Borderlands 2: Humble Beginnings and Checkered Pasts
by LurkingT
Summary: Axton the Commando considers himself as a man reviled for his failures. He has a haunted past in which he could never forgive himself for, a past that was created by the fascist who dictated over Pandora. With the help from a significant other, Axton can possibly eradicate his past and be able to atone for his sins. Axton/Maya (Maxton), Gaige/OC, Please Review!
1. Chapter 1: Humble Beginnings

Chapter 1

"Flick!' was the sound that Axton's lighter made before he sparked it into flames, then proceeding to hold it over his unlit cigar, continuously puffing until a constant ember from the rolled up tobacco stick was produced. He was sitting on the very edge of the sanctuary town, which was at this point sky-high thanks to complications from 'yours truly'.

"Fuckin' prick" he growled under his breath in a very harsh tone. The sun was finally about to set over the shithole of a planet known as Pandora, the moon cycle is very odd for this planet as the sun is up a bit longer than usual, at least, later on his home planet.

Although peace and quiet was all he needed, he could really use some company right about now.

Sal was over at Moxxi's getting into constant competitions on who can drink more booze than the latter, mostly his opponent is Mordecai, which Salvador always loses to. Nobody can beat Mordecai at drinking, that guy must had a liver made of pure titanium.

Zer0 was most likely training his new blade techniques and coming up with more clever haikus to say to make him seem more 'badass'.

But Maya, well, Axton had no clue what she was up to. Probably meditating or whatever those Sirens do. He never payed attention to how Sirens function, much to his regret, he always found their "mystical' powers bewildering at the very least, yet never payed any keen attention to them.

"I'm surprised you're not over at Moxxi's getting shitfaced with the rest of the guys" came a soft voice directly behind him.

Axton cocked his head about 45 degrees and used his peripheral vision to see that it was Maya standing behind him.

"Naw," He said, "I'm kinda enjoying this not so long night of peace and quiet,"

Maya looked at him with a strange face before saying to him "Weird, I never thought you were the type of guy to relax and kick-back so to speak."

She then took a seat right beside him and looked out to the horizon. She quickly glanced down for a second before shooting her head back up with a worried look.

"You alright?" Axton questioned, noticing her sudden jerk upwards. "Uh, I'm f-fine," Maya blurted out, causing Axton to develop a pretty big grin on his face.

"You're afraid of heights, aren't you?" Axton said jokingly.

Maya was quick to retort "No! Hell no!"

Axton shrugged his shoulders before taking a puff from his cigar (he forgot he had it in his hands) "Well alright, if you say so"

Then without Maya knowing Axton reached over her arms before saying loudly and giving a playful push "SAVED YOUR LIFE!" Causing Maya to nearly scream and latch onto Axton like a baby monkey clutching on to its mother. Axton chuckled after finding Maya's weakness.

Maya punched Axton lightly on the shoulder "Prick..." Maya said softly.

"Hey come on! It's all in good fun! Like I was gonna let you fall off Maya" Axton said defensively, yet playfully at the same time.

"Whatever..." is all that Maya said.

Silence fell between the two of them before Axton broke the silence by saying

"Nice night ain't it? It's not often we get these clear skies like this."

Maya agreed "Yeah, I guess so."

Once again another silence befell between the two. Axton stood up and flicked his spent cigar off the edge of Sanctuary

"Welp, I better go back the HQ, you comin?" Axton said offering his hand to Maya.

"Okay" she said before grabbing his hand, noticing how it was nice and warm it was and was hoisted up before the two walked back to their so-called home.

Axton was rolling around his extremely worn bed in cold sweat._ "SARAH?! NATHAN!?"_ were the voices inside of the dream he was having, realizing it was his own voice before hearing a woman's scream and gunshots then finally hearing the faint sound that said _"...Daddy?..."_

Axton quickly shot up from his sleep gasping for air and dripping with cold sweat. He was having the same nightmare for the past two years.

_The voices...The fucking noises won't go away..._ thinking to himself while clutching his wedding ring he always had around his neck.

He sat up on his bed rubbing his temples with his fingertips, checking around making sure he woke nobody else up. He slept in the entryway with Salvador and Zer0, Maya sleeping downstairs with the batshit insane doctor named Tannis, and the other four vault hunters slept near the hologram, which was switched off at night.

He sighed in relief seeing that Salvador was snoring somewhat loudly and Zer0 was still in the corner with a big "Z" hologrammed on his helmet. He stepped out of his bed then walked out to the deck of the HQ.

"Somethin' wrong, killer?" Lilith said behind him, causing Axton to shoot back and look at her,

"Um...no I'm fine, just go back to sleep, I just need some fresh air that's all, Sal kinda smells"

Lilith laughed quietly before hearing a half-asleep Gunzerker say

"No i is not...".

Lilith then said, "Well see ya in the morning I guess, pro."

_"Pro?"_ Axton thought to himself_ "That's new, I guess 'killer is going out of style."_

Lilith always had nicknames for people such as Tiger, Killer, Slayer, but Pro is a new one to add to the books. He silently walked back to his bed looking at a passed out Mordecai on the couch lightly snoring barely holding on to whatever he could get his hands on from Moxxi, in this case it was Bladeflower Whiskey, which was made up of 60% alcohol. It still amazes Axton how all of his brain cells aren't dead yet. He decided to not make much of a fuss about it and then collapsed on his bed again. He then closed his eyes then slowly went back to sleep.

As always Axton was the first to wake up out of everybody, Roland was the only person who woke up before him since their training discipline had practically hard-wired into their systems.

Axton's morning routine was to roll out of bed, do 100 pushups, then go to the pull-up bar that he built then do 20 pull-ups then do then do 100 inverted situps before waking everybody up. Even after leaving the military service, he still wanted to stay in peak physical form.

Roland always woke up his fellow Ex-vault hunters, which was only Lilith, because Mordecai was too hard to get up because he would always be sleeping off the hangover he had from drinking too much.

Axton wiped the sweat from his face before tapping Zer0 on the shoulder telling him to wake up, which he always did.

As for Salvador, he saved him for last because he would always come up with creative and hilarious ways to wake up Salvador, whether it would be blowing an air horn or shouting into a megaphone he borrows from Moxxi, It would always end up in laughter.

So as he was thinking of a way to wake him up, he went downstairs to go wake up Maya, as he went downstairs, he found her curled up in her bed sleeping softly. This caused Axton to look at her for a minute.

"She sure does look cute when shes sleeping" Axton thought, hell, she always did.

Axton touched her shoulder and lightly shaken her saying "Hey...time to get up"

Maya opened her eyes slowly to see that Axton was standing over her with a slight smile on his face 'Now this is a face I can get used to waking up to' she thought to herself before finally saying

"Hey" back to Axton before sitting upright

"Have you come up with a way to wake up Sal yet?" She begun

"Yeah, I think I got something," Axton replied with a slight grin on his face.

They both then walked upstairs to still see Salvador snoring in his bed. He managed to get some small firecrackers from Tiny Tina and found a metal pot while searching the waste lands. By this time Mordecai was up and waiting to see how Axton could wake Sal up.

Axton then placed the firecrackers into the pot and placed the pot near Salvador's bedside, he flicked his lighter out then lit the fuse.

In about 5 seconds there was extremely loud exploding noses coming right from Salvador's bedside as he quickly scrambled to get out of bed but ending up falling flat on his face like usual causing the entire room to burst with laughter, even Zer0 always found a kick out of these shenanigans.

"Goddammit Axton! What the Hell?!" Salvador shouted, at this point Axton was literally rolling on the floor laughing while Maya was crying from laughing so hard, same goes for Lilith, Roland and the rest of the people in the building.

"Oh Man! That never gets old! That's for putting a cat in my bed the other night!" Axton managed to say before continuing to laugh.

"Not funny Pendejo!" Salvador said in defense.

Mordecai was also laughing extremely hard, "Oh man that was hilarious!"

Roland was chuckling pretty loudly too. The laughing soon came to a close then the Vault Hunters began to settle down.

"Well that was pretty funny and all, but we best get back to work" Roland said with his usual stern voice.

"Alright then, what's the plan then?" Axton said while being lead over the holographic map that Roland uses as his way of easily navigating Pandora. "Well, we got a situation, Handsome Jack is planning to strike Overlook and use it as a secondary command post."

At that point, Axton's smile turned into a half-pissed, half frowning face. He gritted his teeth together before finally saying "Jack..."


	2. Chapter 2: R3m3mb3r4nc3

Chapter 2

"_You disappoint me, Axton..."_ Were only one the many phrases that would repeat constantly in his head over and over again._ "...So is this where the line is cut?..."_

'_The voices...why won't they stop?'_ Axton thought to himself. It was if that there were things about his past he couldn't seem to fully forget, no matter how hard he tried.

Axton made the selection to go to Overlook to smoke out any sort of Hyperion control from their hands, the last things those poor sick souls need is a fascist, treacherous, asshole dictating their lives and making their lives even more of a living hell than it already is.

"You guys ready?" Axton asked before pulling back the charging handle of his Dahl assault rifle and releasing it. Maya finished spinning the energy fuel cell needed to fire the Maliwan 'Grace' model gun and giving a nod to Axton. Zero slowly pulled out his energized katana from his back before saying in a Haiku.

"Of course I am ready/The scum of Hyperion/Shall be perished"

Salvador was spinning the tri-barrels of his Bandit weapon he ripped from the hands of a Marauder.

"Ready as I'll ever be, Mojito"

Axton then pressed the travel button which digitally warped all of the hunters through a cybernet wave length, before being reconstructed at the Overlook town square.

Axton with haste readied his weapon, but then slowly dropped his guard before saying.

"It's a ghost town...Where are the Loaders? Aren't they supposed to be enforcing the 'law'?"

Salvador walked around shouting "Hello? Anybody home?!"

While Maya just looked at the ground but quickly glanced up with a surprised look.

"Maya! What is it?' Axton questioned noticing her jerk upright

"Hyperion must be closer than we think..." Maya said worriedly

"ERNNNNN, Wrong answer Contestant Number 1! But thanks for playing!" Came the very recognizable cocky tone through the ECHO communicator.

"Jack..." Axton said angrily.

"Awwwwww, y'all remember me! How nice of you! Well actually, my bots are stationed on my giant freakin' "H" that surveys you pathetic little planet! Buuuuuut if I felt so inclined to press this button right here"

*beep!*

"Ooopsie!" Jack said with a faked guilty tone. "Well I guess you guys should get to know each other while we're at it. Robots; meet Dumbshits, Dumbshits; meet Robots! Play nice kiddos!"

"Cocky bastardo, jus' looooves to run his mouth" Salvador said mildly annoyed

Before anyone could concur with Sal, a distant explosion could be heard from the Hyperion base and a giant rocket hurled towards the Vault Hunters.

"LOOK OUT!" Axton yelled before ducking for cover as soon as the giant missile impacted Overlook.

The missile was then soon discovered to be a giant capsule that held several types of loaders, BUL, GUN, PWR, and EXP loaders were the outcome of the aftermath. The robots began to take their shapes before opening fire on the Vault Hunters.

"**EXTERMINATE. ANNIHILATE. DESTROY"**

"Now the real fun begins" Axton said coyly. "Hey do me a favor bots and stand in front of this for a bit"

Without missing a beat, Axton quickly deployed his Dahl Sabre turret that he specifically designed himself with the sole purpose of 'fucking shit up'. The turret began to rip apart at the Loaders while Missiles deployed finished off the robot.

"Auto gun's chewin 'em up!" Axton said victoriously as he opened fire on another GUN Loader, disintegrating all of it's armor thanks to his Assault rifle outfitted with corrosive bullets that melt away metal in an instant.

"STOP!" Came a voice behind him when he realized Maya Phaselocked a BUL Loader that would have scooped up Axton had she not intervened. She smiled at Axton before hurling the Loader off the edge of the cliff.

"Thanks, I owe ya one!" Axton said happy that Maya saved his ass royally.

"Eh, no worries! Happens to the best of us!" Maya said before chuckling a bit.

"Hey that's my line! Thief!" Axton said playfully, but then turned his head to the side when he heard a very loud shout coming across from him.

"TWO GUNS! MOTHERFUCKERS!" Salvador roared as he opened fire with his two 'Spiniguns' made by bandits on the poor Loaders that were unfortunate to meet face-to-face with a Gunzerker. Axton reckoned he must of unloaded close to 200 rounds on the EXP Loaders blowing them to bits.

"ROCK AND ROLL! AHAHHAHHA!" He shouted while firing the rest of his box magazine in the air.

Zer0 was left to face off with a PWR Loader.

"**EXTERMINATE NINJA ASSASSIN" **The Loader said while charging his Ion blaster before releasing it on the Assassin.

"And I disappear; / A ghost amidst the combat, / Preparing to strike," was the Haiku Zer0 recited to himself before slicing the Loader into two separate pieces.

"You Lose." Zer0 said in the usual dark voice.

When the threat was dealt with the Vault Hunters rejoiced the fact that once again, they proved that they were indeed a force to be reckoned with.

"Welp, that was unbelievably easy, what do you guys think?" Axton asked stunned that was all Jack sent to kill them.

"Yeah.." Maya said "I feel like Jack should be giving us a surprise right about now..."

"DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! Congratulations contestant number 1! You answered correctly!" Jack jokingly said over the ECHO.

"See?" Maya said annoyed.

"Was there any doubt?" Zer0 said also annoyed that Jack has to comment on virtually everything that they do.

"For answering the question correctly, you get a prize! Heads Up!" Jack said before cutting off the mic.

Once again, another capsule was launched from the space station, but this time, it was much smaller than the other. It also made virtually no explosive impact on the ground. instead it bounced off the ground for a bit then finally rolling towards the vault hunters. They noticed that the capsule had a giant 'Pull Me' sticker taped onto it with a red latch holding the door closed.

"Probably a trap," Axton said "Ahh hell, I'm pulling it anyway."

Axton pulled the red lever anticipating that bomb could go off or a timer or something, instead it was a door that opened up to reveal a peculiar object inside.

"What's inside?" Maya asked.

Axton then reached in then pulled out what was inside. His face turned white and his eyes were shocked to say the least.

A little stuffed Giraffe was inside. One that Axton had past experiences with.

"_...Daddy...?"_ was the constant voice that kept playing in his mind over and over again as he tried to process the situation.

"Eh...Is uh... that a Giraffe?" Salvador asked confused.

"Yeah..it its" Maya said equally confused "Why the hell would Jack send us a stuffed Giraffe?"

Axton, finally snapping back into reality before saying to them.

"I uh...I dunno, you're right, it is weird," said Axton trying fake his confusion to not make anybody suspicious, which worked.

"We best head back to Sanctuary and report our ass-kickery to Roland, he's gotta know about this" Axton said grabbing the stuffed Giraffe and standing up.

"Aight," Salvador said "Drinks are on me!"

"Sal, you always get free drinks because you're nice to Moxxi," Maya said to him.

"Eh, can't hurt for a guy to offer right Amigo?" Salvador said before laughing to himself.

Axton was staring at the stuffed Giraffe with a grief-stricken look on his face prompting Maya to ask worriedly.

"Axton...Are you alright?" She said worried and concerned.

Axton, once again snapping back into reality quickly responded to Maya.

"Yeah Maya, I'm fine" Axton said faking a smile on his face. "Lets get back to Sanctuary."

Maya then looked at him with a concerned face before saying deeply, almost as if it were a whisper, "Alright..."

Axton walked over to the Fast-Travel station then punched in the coordinates for Sanctuary.

'_Jack you motherfucker...'_ Axton thought to himself while gritting his teeth together _'I swear to God I'll kill you, you'll wish you died in that crash.'_ then pressed the 'Travel' button to head back "Home".

All of the Vault Hunters were digitally reconstructed back at their vulnerable home of Sanctuary, which was built off the Dahl corporations finest Excavator meant for mining crystals. They all went back to the Crimson Raiders to speak to Roland about the situation.

"Well, what have you got to report, soldiers?" Roland said

"He means 'Good work taking care of the Loaders in Overlook guys, swell job!'" Lilith added acting as his 'courtesy coach'

"Oh sorry," Roland muttered bashfully. "Good job...So what do you have to report"

"Well the attack wasn't too bad, only a couple of capsules were launched from Hyperion's base, so it wasn't a problem," Axton said summing up their mission.

"Sooooo, care to explain why your carrying a stuffed Giraffe with you, Killer?" Lilith said confused.

_'Back to 'Killer'_ now?' Axton thought

"Well," Maya said scratching the back of her neck, "The final capsule Jack sent contained this Giraffe in it."

"Why the hell would Jack send you a Giraffe?" Mordecai asked confused

"Das' what I was tinkin'!" Salvador said

"Well, it certainly ain't a bomb," Roland said "Well good work on taking care of the Overlook situation, at least they wont have to hear the drones for a while."

"What's the difference?" Mordecai added "All of their brain cells are practically dead from the Eridium radiation being given off from the mining."

Lilith then said to the Vault hunters "Well you guys can relax for the day, have a drink or something at Moxxi's"

"You had me at 'drink' Lil'!" Mordecai joked before taking a huge swig of whiskey.

Axton then went to his room then put the giraffe on his shelf then staring at it for a while.

_'Daddy says you're a bad person!' _Was what he kept hearing in his head before being interrupted by a voice behind him.

"So are you gonna tell me about the Giraffe or what?" Maya said behind him, causing Axton to snap out of his trance.

Axton tried to play it off by saying "What?" Out of faked confusion.

Maya then scoffed then said "Oh don't play 'Stupid' with me Axton, I know you have a connection with that thing, now are you gonna tell me or what? I'm starting to get a little worried,"

Axton then looked at her for a few seconds. He sighed and said to her "Maybe some other time, Maya,I'm a little tired."

Now it was Maya's turn to stare at him for a few seconds.

"I'm going to Moxxi's for a quick drink and maybe stop by Marcus', wanna come?" Axton then said to her.

"No thanks," Maya said, "I think I'll just stay here and relax."

Axton then looked at her before saying "Okay, I'll see you in a hour or two."

Axton then followed Salvador, Mordecai and Roland out of the door to go to Moxxi's, Axton took one glance at Maya then went out the door.

_'What are you hiding from me, Axton?_' Maya thought while holding the Giraffe and staring at the door.


	3. Chapter 3: 'Demonios Mano'

Chapter 3

Axton was sitting quietly at the bar with Salvador, Roland, and Mordecai talking about whatever seemed to pop in their heads. Ever since Jack took global dominion over Pandora, Moxxi's business has been put to a screeching halt, that and the fact that Moxxi dumped Jack (which probably wasn't a good idea). Her Underdome was closed off and now she runs Moxxi's bar, a place that sells alcohol and (for some reason) pizza. She enjoyed running the place, of course, the occasional asswipes would try to come on to her and such, but she adored it when people like Roland, Mordecai, Sal, Axton and all those people come around.

"What's happenin' fellas?" Moxxi asked, she always tried to keep interaction among her customers (In more ways than one).

"Oh, this and that," Roland started, taking a swig from his beer he then said "A crazy psychopath inching closer and closer to killing us all, Revolution is falling apart, Sanctuary is now completely vulnerable to an invasion by Hyperion, but other than that, same ol' same ol',"

Moxxi scoffed at Roland's cynical comment, she was trying to lighten up some sorta mood but in return got a snappy remark.

_'Typical Roland'_ thinking to herself.

Mordecai pulled out his bottle of Bladeflower Whiskey that was drank half-way, yanked the cork off with his teeth and was about to take a huge swig, only to be stopped by Axton.

"Dude, maybe you should eat something first," Axton advised to his friend.

"Oh no thanks friend," Mordecai politely declined "Food makes me sick."

Mordecai then put the spout of the bottle to his lips then tilted the bottle diagonally then began chugging the Whiskey bottle, bewildering all of the men at the bar, even Moxxi stared at him slack jawed when he drank the rest of the whiskey, which was about a 750 mL glass bottle.

When he was finally finished with the bottle, he took the spout from his lips and let out a very long "Ahhhhhhhh" signifying that the whiskey literally, hit the spot.

"A man who doesn't eat but drinks like that, he is going to die!" Axton said, still blown away by Mordecai's feat.

"When?" Mordecai then said, becoming more philosophical (Which was normal when he was drunk).

"Why do you do that to yourself?" Axton asked.

"Oh, it's a long story," Mordecai warned Axton.

"Well we're sitting here, and I'm all ears," Axton said to Mordecai.

"Yeah, why did you become like who you are now, sug?" Moxxi then asked.

Mordecai let out a huge sigh.

"Alright" Mordecai said "Well, back in my prime I used to be known by everybody as

'Demonios Mano'"

"Demonios Mano?!" Salvador said in disbelief "He had the fastest hands in the east coast!"

"..In the world" Mordecai said "So anyway, every single bandit, cutthroat, and prairie-punk would always drive into town to try and beat 'Demonios Mano' in a quick-draw. Heheheheh...Idiots"

Mordecai then said "One day, I came across a flyer advertising a shooting contest near town, so I signed up,"

"To make things interesting, I didn't use a sniper rifle like everybody else did, I only used a Jakobs Law pistol, and smoked the competition," Mordecai said with a little pride in his voice.

"But the judges thought I was a cheat, although they couldn't find any refutable evidence that backed that up, so the assholes still disqualified me from the contest..." Mordecai said switching his tone to anger.

"Then one day, I was just walking down the street, minding my own buisness,when I hear a voice yell from behind me 'Reach for it, Mister!'" Mordecai paused

" So I spun around with my weapon drawn, and there I was, face to face, with a six-year old kid..." Mordecai said in shame.

"I just threw my revolver down on the ground and walked away" Mordecai said but then taking a deep breath.

"Little BASTARD SHOT ME IN THE ASS!" Mordecai yelled, causing Moxxi to cringe in pain.

"So I limped to the nearest bar, crawled into a whiskey bottle, and never came out," Mordecai said wrapping up his shit-story with a bowtie.

"Wow," Roland said, finishing off his beer "So that's why you got the little limp in your left leg,"

"Yep," Mordecai said taking another deep breath.

There was a slight silence between the Five of them, the techno music was still blaring in the background. Axton then finished the rest of his beer stood up from the bar stool, then threw down a couple of 20 dollar bills for the drink he bought.

"Thanks for the drink Moxxi," Axton said with common courtesy

"Oh you are so very welcome hon, doors always open!" Moxxi said

"I'm gonna go to Marcus' to see what kinda guns hes got in store," Axton said taking a breath.

"Spoiler alert: There is none," Mordecai said jokingly, high-fiving Moxxi in the process.

"Welp, catch you guys later," Axton said

"Alright then,"

"Laters,"

"Catch ya later, Amigo,"

"Buh bye, sweetheart,"

Axton walked out of the bar, straight toward Marcus' Munitions, which was located at the corner of town.

_'Man'_ Axton thought to himself_ 'That was a pretty harsh story he told us, he's been through a lot-_

"YOU GONNA BUY SUMTHIN'!?" Crazy Earl yelled at him through his door visor.

"NO Earl, I'm fine!" Axton said annoyed that Crazy Earl derailed his train of thought.

"GOOD, CUS I WASN GON SELL ANYTHIN' TO YAS, NOW SCRAM!" Earl yelled at Axton

"Alright I'm going!" Axton said raising his voice, and continuing to walk towards Marcus' store.

_'Goddamnit Earl... now where was I? Oh yeah, It must've been so embarrassing to get shot in the ass by a 6-year old, how the hell did he even know how to use a gun?'_

By the time he thought about that incident, he was already at Marcus Munitions.

"Hello friend! And welcome to my shop!" Marcus said with his traditional greeting tone.

"Hey Marcus, just checkin around, what's new?" Axton asked.

"Well, have I got a weapon for you Axton! I got a new shipment of Dahl armaments and I thought you would like this new sniper rifle I purchased from them!" Marcus said being the pitchmen like always.

"Alright, I'm listening," Axton asked becoming interested.

"Well, It is called the 'Pitchfork'" Marcus said while pulling out the sniper, it truly was a work of art, I had a long bayonet attached to the bottom and had a very sleek scope on the top, Axton also noted the twin barrels on the rifle.

_'Mordecai, you were wrong'_ Axton thought to himself.

"It features a rotating barrel, so you can fire at a faster rate," Marcus said "And when zoomed in, it has a 5-round rapid fire capability!"

"Alright, how much?" Axton asked

"$250,000" Marcus then said, causing Axton to widen his eyes a bit.

"Well," Axton said, "I DID raid that Hyperion supply line and got my fair share of the bargain, so, I guess I can treat myself once in awhile," Axton then dropped $250,000 on the table, causing Marcus to drop his jaw in excitement.

"Neveroyatnye! I can't believe somebody actually had enough money to buy this work of art! Thank you my friend! For your continued patronage, heres a free pistol, courtesy of Maliwan!" Marcus said excited and gave Axton the pistol, which also was quite impressive, judging by the purple glow emitted from the gun, he assumed it was slag powered.

"Well, thanks Marcus, see you around I guess," Axton said also as excited as him.

"Farewell my friend, if you shop anywhere else, I'll have you killed!" Marcus said.

Axton then laughed then walked up the stairs to go back to the headquarters to show off his brand new sniper rifle and pistol.

_'I wonder why he was laughing?'_ Marcus thought to himself puzzled.

Axton then opened the door to the HQ to see Maya and Lilith talking to each other, and saw Tannis ranting about how 'Fillipe' the ceiling chair was so brave as usual. They both noticed the sniper rifle on his back and the pistol that he carried.

"Wow, sweet sniper, dude!" Lilith said

"Yeah, where'd you get that?" Maya said anxious to know.

"Well it's a limited edition Dahl sniper rifle and I bought it at Marcus' store," Axton said boasting about his newest weapon.

"Forreal?" Lilith said with disbelief "I always thought it was better to pry the weapons from hands of the Bandits ourselves.."

"What about the pistol?" Maya asked

"Oh this? Well Marcus gave it to me for free for buying the rifle." Axton said, causing Lilith's eyes to widen.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait," Lilith said once again with disbelief "Not only did Marcus sell you a top- notch sniper, but also gave you a weapon...for free?"

"Yeah that's what I was thinkin'," He the looked at Maya then said "You want the pistol Maya? I'm probably not gonna use it, and I know how much you like Maliwan weapons." Axton asked flipping the pistol around so the butt of the gun was facing Maya.

"Wow thank you Axton! This is great!" Maya said grabbing the gun, happy not only because she got a very nice gun made by her favorite manufacturer Maliwan, but also because it was a gift from Axton.

"Hey, you guys seen Zer0 around?" Axton asked looking around for the emoticon emitting ninja.

"Last time I saw him, he was training or something, I think he's upstairs," Lilith said admiring the gun Maya got.

"Alright thanks!" Axton said walking upstairs.

Maya took out the battery cell that charged the pistol, noticing that it was slag as well.

"Hmmmm a Slag gun," Maya said "I scored big time, didn't I?"

"Yup," Lilith said "In more ways than one..." Raising her eyebrows rapidly.

"Oh shaddup!' Maya said playfully pushing Lilith "It's not like that!"

Lilith laughed at this then said "Whatever you say, chica, he's quite a handsome man!"

Lilith then walked out of the HQ, presumably to go to Moxxis for a quick drink and talk to the fearless leader Roland and the town drunk-but-better-shot-than-all-of-us Mordecai. Maya then quietly said to herself while staring at the gun.

"He is quite handsome..."

Zer0 was on the balcony in a meditative position, both legs crossed, with his katana on his lap when Axton found him.

He then put his hands on the ground, then calmly and with grace lifted his body so he was doing a handstand, he then began to do repetitions of push-ups while in the handstand position.

"Okay, you GOTTA teach me that," Axton said to Zer0

"I'll Eventually / We have other matters now / What with Handsome Jack," Zer0 said in a haiku

"I know Zer0, I know..." Axton muttered before going to his room.

Every time he stared at that damn giraffe on his shelf, it flooded his mind with memories.

_'You wouldn't want to miss this, Axton'...'He will pay for this'...'I have no time for cowards'...'What are you doing, kid?'_

_'The voices...these fucking voices'_ Axton thought to himself while gripping his hair stroking it in angst.

"Axton..." said a soft voice behind him, he could tell Maya's voice from anybody else.

"Yes, Maya?" Axton said keeping his cool.

"If theres anything I can do, please let me know... I'm getting worried," Maya said softly again.

"Why would you be?" Axton said still retaining his cool turning his head 45 degrees clockwise.

"Because you're my friend," Maya said walking up to him putting her hand on his shoulder, noticing how tense it was.

"Please, Maya this doesn't concern you..." Axton said softly

"Why can't it?" Maya said raising her voice slightly "Axton, why don't you want to tell me about that stuffed animal?"

"Maya," Axton said turning around, noticing her very concerned face (and his gun holstered on her thigh) "You shouldn't ask questions you don't know the answer to." He said before sitting on his mattress.

"Funny," Maya said, slightly annoyed "That's exactly what the head monk said to me millions of times,"

"He was a wise man, Maya" Axton said looking at her.

Maya, now annoyed said "Well you can't ask him that because a major city in Athenas was nuked and over 600 people were gunned down in the Mombusha city streets including all of the monks at the temple!"

"I know Maya, I know. I've read the newsletters..." Axton said calming her down.

They both shared eye contact for about 15 seconds before Axton, who was always the person to break the silence said

"You should get some rest, Maya, I should too,"

Maya knew she couldn't do more at this point, so she finally gave in and said

"Alright...Goodnight Axton,"

"Goodnight, Maya..." Axton said calmly

She walked to the door, took a long, saddened look at Axton then walked out.

_'Maya...'_ Axton thought with the guilty conscience he had. He finally closed his eyes and went to sleep, sleep that he hasn't fully had for the past couple of years.

_'I'm sorry...'_


	4. Chapter 4: Opportunist

Chapter 4

'_This is the start of something incredible'...'We show them our true strength'..._

'..._**A Siren**_..."

Axton shot up from his sleep, gasping for air once again. It has been too long since he has gotten a proper sleep. He rubbed his face from the the cold sweat triggered by the dream. He quietly sat up from his mattress. Salvador was snoring lightly, which was unusual, but Zer0 always looked the same. A slightly dimmed 'Z' was hologrammed on his helmet showing that he was asleep.

He lifted his head and stared at that animal that was perched up on top of his shelf. Too many memories came from that collection of stuffed cotton and sewed fabric.

_'I...I will kill him.._' Axton thought while laying down on his bed again. He laid awake for about half an hour just thinking to himself.

"I wish I could tell you Maya..." Axton whispered quietly.

He could feel Maya's pain emanating from her emotions and expressions. She truly lost a lot. Atlas corporation was supposedly responsible for the tragedy on the planet of Athenas, Maya's home planet. Their motives were truly unknown, it was speculated however that they did that to ensure intergalactic dominion over the planet, to show Hyperion they aren't messing around city of Helios was wiped off the face of the map due to an atomic blast that detonated in the city. Shortly after the incident, Atlas was issued an indefinite suspension of business decree so another incident couldn't occur again. The mighty and feared Crimson Lance began to whittle away, before Atlas became nonexistent.

_'90,000 people'_ Axton thought_ '90,000 fucking people...dead in the blink of an eye'_

Then it was supposedly Hyperion's turn to throw their hat into the ring. A small army led by Handsome Jack himself orchestrated a massacre in the city of Mombusha, killing roughly 600 people while doing so. Nearly as mysterious as Atlas, Hyperions motives, were truly unknown, and no one could intervene because no organization would dare trifle with the might of Hyperion. Handsome Jack had (and still does have) the galaxy in his back pocket.

Gunfire was constantly heard in the back of Axton's mind while he thought about this. No matter what he did, he couldn't fight it. The voices wouldn't stop.

'_The voices...these goddamn voices...'_ Axton thought clenching his fists. He could never get proper sleep, yet he still tries.

-4 YEARS AGO-

Death.

That was what surrounded Maya whilst running through the streets of Mombusha, hundreds of souls dead from the might of Hyperion. Why they were doing this, was completely shrouded in mystery.

As she was running through the streets, she came face to face with a man who knocked her down to the ground and pointed and assault rifle at here face.

"What's this?" Mr. Blake said "A Siren caught off her guard?"

Maya couldn't react, she was to shocked by these turn of events to fight back, all she wanted was to run away. Forget this ever happened.

"Just close your eyes, dear," Mr. Blake said "This won't hurt a bit."

He then aimed his gun at Maya's face, about to pull the trigger, when all of the sudden, Mr. Blake was shot in the head from a distance, by a man who was badly injured and wearing a tuxedo of some sort. Maya couldn't tell who this man was because he was covered in shadow, perhaps to not give chase to anybody. After staring at the man who saved her life, he moved towards the massacre that was going on in the center of town.

_'Who is that man?'_ Maya thought _'And why did he save me?'_

She decided not to think most of it,quickly stood up and head for the evacuation that was going on south of the town lead by the Dahl corporation.

-PRESENT TIME-

After thinking to himself for a bit, he slowly closed his eyes then drifted off into his half-assed sleep where he kept hearing voices...

Just like old habits, Axton and Roland were the first to get up. Axton did his morning routine, 100 push-ups, 30 pull ups, and 100 inverted situps. But this time it was different, because he didn't need to wake up Maya, she was up when Axton was doing his pull-ups. Maya walked in to little exercise room Axton built to see a shirtless Axton doing many pull ups, causing her to blush and widen her eyes a bit.

"Oh...Morning," Axton said finalizing his pull up routine then jumping down from the bar.

"M-m-morning," Maya said staggering

_'Jesus, he has a nice body...'_ She thought to herself

Axton then walked up to Maya wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"Hey, can you toss me that cloth hanging over there?" Axton said pointing to the rage hanging on the bar right next to Maya.

"Oh' Maya said looking down at the cloth "Sure, here you go," Handing him the cloth.

"Thanks" Axton said wiping his face off before continuing with his conversation with her.

"So what's the reason you're up so early?" He said

Maya then said snapping out of her trance "Oh! Well, I don't really know, I guess it just sorta happened..." She began to slowly trail off, her eyes shifting downward.

"Hey" Axton said snapping his fingers "My eyes are up here," He said pointing to his eyes.

Maya then said something he didn't expect.

"Yeah well your pecs are down here," She said before covering her mouth in embarrassment, which caused Axton to laugh lightly.

_'How could have I said that?! What's wrong with me?!'_ Maya thought while mentally slapping herself for letting that slip out of her mouth.

"Well I guess women can be as equally perverted as guys can," Axton said walking past her to go find his shirt and backpack.

_'Goddammit Maya'_ She thought to herself.

* * *

After Axton washed off his face he walked up to Roland, who was up and about a little before Axton.

"Well what's on the agenda today Roland?" Axton asked putting his backpack on.

"We're getting closer and closer to the Vault key, all we need is enough firepower to be able to punch through the second gate," Roland said

"One problem, I have no clue how the hell we're gonna get through the third gate." Roland admitted in defeat

"Eh, we'll figure it out," Axton said patting his back, then turning his head to face the screen to see the liknesses of someone they trusted, but ended up working for Hyperion all this time.

"If I may...," A voice said from the command computer Roland built.

"What do you want, Angel?" Roland said annoyed that the person who guided them to the vault in the first place was actually working for Jack. "I told you to never contact us again!"

"If you just listen to me, I know how you can get through the third gate," Angel said trying to win back Roland's trust.

Roland then let out a huge sigh before saying "Alright...What is it?"

"Well, Jack has a double stationed at the city of Opportunity to confuse Assassins and, well, admire himself," Angel said.

"If you can kill his double, I can digistruct one of you into an identical clone of Jack, but the gate is also password protected and can be only said in his voice, so you'll have to go to kiosks to collect samples of his tone and voice." Angel said explaining his plan.

Every time Angel mentioned Jack's name it only made Axton angrier, he was edging to finally off with the bastard.

"John..." Axton muttered

"What was that?" Roland asked confused

"Uh...I mean Jack, sorry." Axton said correcting himself.

"Oh, well you better go wake up your team and head to Opportunity," Roland said reiterating on the situation

"Alright, I'll skip the hilarious wake-up for Salvador," Axton said to Roland, causing him to laugh.

"Alright, but one is too many," Roland said cracking a smile.

Axton walked into the room where Zer0 and Salvador were sleeping, giving them both a little tap on the shoulder. Salvador woke up and stood, scratching his head and yawning before saying.

"What? Couldn't tink of a way to wake me up rudely?" Sal said to Axton.

"Naw...Just giving you a break, that's all," Axton said reassuring him that he is FAR from running out of ideas.

Zer0 stood up, shaking his shoulders a bit, and cracking his neck.

"Alright guys, were heading to Opportunity to kill a double of Jack, so we can get past the final door, grab the vault key, then put a bullet through Jack's head" Axton said explaining the game plan to everybody, including Maya who was standing by the doorway.

"Well what we waiting for? Salvador said amping up himself and loading his weapons.

"Welcome to the city of Opportunity!" An overly-friendly automated voice said "We hope you enjoy your stay here in this wonder-"

BANG! The greeter was shot by Salvador, who was getting annoyed by it.

"Alright, find Jack's double, shouldn't be too hard," Axton said to his companions.

_'If only this was the real one...'_ Axton thought to himself.

They found Jack's double strolling around Opportunity, looking very boastful and douchebaggy, a perfect Handsome Jack imitation that they've seen yet.

Axton was quick to react, charging at him with his hatchet, and striking him where the shoulder meets the neck, instant kill.

"Well, that's one way to kill a double," Maya said

"Oh I can think of more, this was just the fastest." Axton then said.

"Okay," Angel said to them "You need to steal the pocketwatch from his back pocket, then collect data from each of the kiosks posted around town. i need about five sound files to be able to get an accurate voice module,"

"You heard the lady," Axton said "We'll spread out and collect files on the kiosks, just put them on your ECHO device, that should work."

As Axton instructed, the four of them collected voices from the douchebagallow named Handsome Jack, hearing him spew more and more bullshit was getting to Axton's head.

_'Can't wait to kill you Jack...'_ Axton thought to himself.

"Alright Angel, we got five sound files, now what?" Axton asked through his ECHO.

"Go to the main control room, and upload the files, I'll process them and they should become a compiled sound wave so you can sound like Handsome Jack, now I know you don't want to sound like a douche-bag,uh I mean uh... baggage. I'll just put them on a device that you can use when you're at the door, you can attach it to your neck and your voice should sound like Jack's." Angel explained.

"Alright, lets go" Zer0 buzzed in.

As per instructions from Angel, they uploaded the files to the main computer, waiting for the files to be transferred, before a green light was emitted, showing the file transfer was done.

"Alright take the device and keep it with you when you get to the door, I'll tell you the password to get in so just trust me on this one-AHHHHH!" She screamed in pain at the end, causing the hunters to be shocked.

"You and me are going to have a talk, Angel," Handsome Jack ECHOed to Angel, with a slight frustrated tone.

"Jack...," Axton muttered "Well, there's nothing we can do for her yet, we best get to Sanctuary and prepare for the attack,"

"Alright," Maya agreed.

Back at Sanctuary, Roland, Lilith and Mordecai were prepared for the next assault on Jack, to try and steal his one and only ticket to the Vault. The Vault hunters returned to Sanctuary and showed Roland the voice changing device and the pocket watch.

"Both of these items can turn somebody into an identical clone oh Jack," Axton explained.

"Perfect, great job guys on retrieving this." Roland said commending them "How was that Lilith?"

"Pretty good, it was a little forced," Lilith said, once again acting as his 'courtesy coach'.

"Well, better get some rest and relaxation, cuz tomorrows gonna be a big day!" Mordecai said before laughing "Those motherfuckers are gonna pay for what they did to Bloodwing,"

"And they will," Roland said assuring him.

Axton then went into his room with the voice modulator in his hands, he sat on his bed and began to press the button on the modulator, playing phrases said by Handsome Jack

"Love your parents kids! But love me more..." Axton pressed it again

"Opportunity is the future of Pandora!" and again

"Hyperion is on your side!" and again

"Opportunity can guarantee your safety and well-being," and again

"How long do you think you'll survive, Axton?"

This startled Axton causing him to drop it on the floor (thankfully not breaking it). He stared at it for a few seconds, taking huge breaths. He slowly picked up the modulator and placed it right next to the stuffed animal on his shelf. He stared at it again before thinking to himself.

_'Jack...I should have killed you when I had the chance...'_

He then darted out of the room to head outside, not noticing Maya was watching him the whole time. Maya then walked over to both the modulator and stuffed animal on his shelf then saying to herself softly.

"Axton...I want to help you..."


	5. Chapter 4 5: Breath before the Plunge

Chapter 4.5 (This is just a filler, more humor set)

Axton went out to Moxxi's for a quick drink, maybe 3 or 4. He still couldn't believe his ears. Has Jack known he was on Pandora the whole time? He didn't know, but what he did know is that Jack was fucking with him majorly. He had no idea what to expect of tomorrow, he just wanted to pop by Moxxis for a drink, 3 or 4 maybe.

He walked into the bar to see that the techno music was still bumping from the speakers inside the bar. He took a seat on the barstool and put money on the table.

"One Rakk ale Moxx," Axton said in a low tone.

"Oh... Sorry sweetie, no more ale today." Moxxi said in a sad, almost condescending matter "Buuut I do happen to have some Bladeflower whiskey in the back if you'd like,"

"Hmmmmm, I don't know...," Axton said pondering how drunk he really wanted to get considering the raid was tomorrow.

"Figured I find you here," Maya said in the background

"Well, hello Maya," Axton said gentleman like.

"What are you doing here?" Maya asked.

"Well," He said looking back at Moxxi, "I was gonna order a couple of shots of Whiskey, ever tried that?" He asked.

"No..." Maya said quieter

"Well, sit down! Take a shot with me! It'll be fun!' Axton said playfully, wondering if she was actually going to do it.

"Well, I don't know...I guess if it's with you," Maya said taking a seat

'That's the spirit!" Axton said commending his Siren friend

Moxxi smiled at the two before pouring two shot glasses to the brim with Whiskey, making sure they were equal proportions.

"Here's one for you, sug" Moxxi said sliding the glass over to Axton.

"And one for the sweet lady," Moxxi then said sliding it to Maya.

Both of them picked up the glasses at the exact same time before Axton said.

"Well," He began "Here's to us!" Raising the glass towards Maya.

"Yeah, to us!," Maya said clanging the glass with Axton's.

They began to chug the glasses, naturally, Axton finished first, shaking his head and shivering at the alcoholic beverage trickling into his system. He felt a slight burn in his system to relay a message to Axton's brain, this burns. Maya then finished hers a second later before letting out a slight cough and gagging at the shot.

"Jesus!" Maya said while coughing "It feels like gasoline!"

"Let it soak in, haha!" Axton said patting his friend on the back lightly. He could always count on Maya to lighten up the mood for him when times like these arose, he completely forgot about the recording he was having such a great time.

"Well lets head back to HQ," Maya said, slightly tipsy after the shot. "I feel a lot butter...better now,"

Axton chuckled at his slightly drunk friend "Alright, let's head home, thanks Moxxi for the drink."

"Oh you're welcome sweetheart, good luck on the raid tomorrow!" Moxxi said to them cleaning out the glasses with a slightly dampened cloth.

* * *

Axton and Maya walked back to the HQ to find Roland, Lilith, Mordecai, Sal, and Zer0 hanging out on the balcony, enjoying the night. Axton noticed how close Lilith and Roland were sitting together, after all, he DID hear the ECHO logs despite denying it to Lilith.

"Hey guys," Axton said "Mind if we pull up a chair?"

"Of course! You're just in time!" Mordecai said to them both pulling out a little cardboard envelope.

"For what?" Maya said

"The 'before ass-kicking celebration'!" He said to them.

"Yeah, It's a little dumb tradition we have between us." Roland said embarrassed that was originally part of this.

"HEY...It is NOT dumb." Mordecai said pointing his finger scolding his friend "It is an honored pastime between us, and it is definitely, not dumb,"

"Whatever," Lilith said, inching closer and closer to Roland.

Mordecai the began to pull out a little piece of paper from inside of the envelope. He then reached into his back pocket and pulled out a little pouch. He held the paper so that he could put in the green organic bud into the paper, before rolling the paper up and licking the edges of it to seal the deal.

"And that my friends," Mordecai said holding up the rolled up paper "Is the 'Mordecai special'"

"Wow," Axton said admiring it. It was perfectly rolled, no seams, loose ends or griblets falling out of it.

"Well," Mordecai said pulling out his lighter "Light 'em up!" he said then putting the flame over the paper, and taking small drags to get the thing going. He then took a huge drag from the joint, letting out some smoke, but then inhaling it all back into his lungs. He held it for a couple of seconds before letting all the smoke out.

"Roland," Mordecai said handing the joint to the fearless leader.

"Thanks," Roland said before taking a huge drag as well, before handing it back to Mordecai.

"Gooooooood shieet man." Roland said nonchalantly, leaning towards his pre-leader predicament (Much to Lilith's delight) "Crimson Lance had NOTHING compared to this!" He said before a huge stupid-looking grin appeared on his face.

"You guys partake?" Mordecai said swinging the joint around.

"I'm all outta cigars," Axton said "So what the hell,"

He took the lit joint from Mordecai's hand before taking a huge drag and letting it all out.

"Sooo much better than tobacco," Axton said easing up.

"Can I have a drag Amigo?" Sal said to Mordecai

"Well sure you can, dude, the more the merrier!" Mordecai said, who was also chilling equally as the two soldiers were.

Axton passed the joint over to Salvador, who took, very small, but multiple hits from it, then handing it back to Mordecai.

"Man, ees like the stuff my Grandma used to grow, y'know, for her 'Glaucoma'" He said putting his two index and middle fingers into the shapes of quotation marks.

"Hey...Can I try some?" Maya said a bit shyly, which caused the everybody to stare at each other, before Mordecai said to her.

"You sure, Maya? Hehehe I mean, it's pretty strong shit. I got this from a Hyperion confiscation facility, this stuff was in high security levels, Jack was probably gonna use it for himself!" Mordecai said to her.

"Yeah, I think It got it," She said confidently.

"Alright," Mordecai said shrugging his shoulders, "But go easy on it,"

Mordecai passed the joint to Axton, who handed it to Maya. She took a considerably sized drag (Which was expected) before letting the smoke out, prompting her to cough a little.

"It's not too bad," Maya said to her friends.

"Well to be honest," Axton said before taking the joint from Maya "It takes a while to be absorbed into the-"

"PFFFFTTTT HAHAHAHAHHA" Maya laughed uncontrollably for about 30 seconds, literally rolling on the floor in laughter, for no apparent reason whatsoever prompting the other Vault hunters to look at each other awkwardly. Then out of the blue, she shot up from her laughter spree and then began talking.

"I'm hungry." She said "We should cook up some steak...Do we have any steak?"

"Uhhhh..." Axton said out of confusion

"What do you mean by that?" Maya interrupted "Why do you guys hate me so much?"

"But..." Axton tried to say before getting interrupted again.

"We should cook up some steak." She said "Oh why do I have flies in my brain right now!"

Before collapsing on Axton's shoulder and letting out a long sigh. Axton, Mordecai, Roland, Lilith, and Salvador couldn't help but laugh at Maya's little performance, while Zer0 just sat there with a smiley face emoticon on his face.

"Heavvvvy shit man," Mordecai chuckled before taking a little drag from the joint.

"Man... I wish I could go back," Roland began

"Oh God, here we go again," Lilith said grinning at Roland

"It was so simple; Travel through Pandora, kill all the Bandits we could find, then put your feet up on the table, enjoying a nice cold beer a Moxxi's, after a hard days lootin...And just...Relax" Roland said finishing up his little speech.

There was a silence between the 7 of them, before the silence was broken by Mordecai.

"Dude, I'm literally a skag right now," He blurted out.

They all shared a good laugh at that strange statement. Axton thought It was a tradition that should indeed be celebrated. It was the most fun he's had in awhile, he never really had the chance to hang out (They were too busy looting and staying alive) and relax, and now he had the chance to do so, which he enjoyed.

"Well, we better get to sleep," Roland said "We got a big-ass day tomorrow,"

"Yeah," Axton said "Hey Maya, get off my shoulder,"

"Never..." Maya said grinning with her eyes closed

"Sunnovabitch," Axton said rolling his eyes.

Axton then took his left arm and put it under Maya's legs then taking his right arm and placing on her shoulder before scooping her up into his arms. He stood up and and began to walk downstairs. Maya nestled herself into Axton's body enjoying the little joyride she was getting. Axton carried Maya into her room and placed her on the bed gently, pulling the covers over her shoulder so she was almost covered. Tannis was asleep long before the hunters, as she normally slept on her office chair (Which she stole from her co worker).

"Thanks Axton" Maya said softly "You're an Angel" before closing her eyes and falling asleep.

Axton smiled at her for a second, then went back upstairs, only to be greeted by Mordecai who tapped his shoulder lightly.

"heheheheh, you're a lucky bastard ya know dat?" He said to him

"Well I wouldn't know that, I'm going to sleep," Axton said lightly, "Thanks for the joint, I REALLY needed that,"

"Ey you're welcome amigo!" He said patting his shoulder "Anytime man!"

Mordecai walked over to the couch, the plopped himself on the cushions before falling asleep with his mouth open. By this time, everybody was asleep, even Roland who normally went to bed after everybody else. As Axton went to his bed, he didn't even bother to look at the Giraffe or the recorded, he slowly climbed into his bed then close his eyes.

_'Tonight'_ He thought _'I think I may get a proper rest.'_


	6. Chapter 5: When Angels Deserve to Die

Chapter 5

He was wrong, he kept hearing voices in his mind, no matter how much he tried to block it out.

'_You think It'll work out?'...'This place needs a good fixin''..._

'_**NO'**_

Axton, as involuntarily scheduled by his fucked up mind would shoot up from the nightmare he was having for the past 2 years.

'_Godammit'_ Axton thought _' I Can never get a good night's rest...'_

The only was Axton thought would be the only way to end these nightmare was to get rid of Handsome Jack. For good.

'_I should have killed him when I had the chance...'_

Axton woke up from his nightmarish sleep. He's lucky to even get 3 hours of sleep every night, no matter what he tries, it never helps.

100 pushups, 30 Pull Ups, and 100 Inverted situps later, he put on his shirt and backpack, then went to find Roland so they can prepare for the assault. He then walked back upstairs and tapped Zer0 on the shoulder, prompting him to wake up. He then walked downstairs to go wake up Maya.

'_I hope she still isn't baked' _He thought to himself.

He shook Maya's shoulder before telling her.

"Hey..wake up.."

Maya's eyes slowly opened up to see the man who carried her to her bed because she was too stoned to get up and walk herself.

"Hey...Morning," Maya said softly

"How'd you sleep?" Axton asked asked

"Mmm, amazing..." Maya said closing her eyes and smiling before sitting up.

"Yeah, joints will do that to you." Axton said joking.

"How about you?" Maya said rubbing her eyes.

"Yeah yeah, slept like a rock," Axton lied.

"You aren't giving Sal a break again are you?" Maya asked standing up from her bed.

"Nope," Axton said smirking.

Axton then ran upstairs with a empty bucket in his hand. He ran up to where Salvador was sleeping, and quickly shoved the bucket over his head, then whacked the bucket, making a bell noise, which of course startled Salvador and caused him to fall over. As usual, the entire building was filled with laughter. Salvador threw the bucket off his head and yelled.

"Damnit Axton!" He said loud "Not funny!"

Axton was laughing very hard at this point in time. So was Maya and the rest of the people.

"Well," Roland said "Now that we got that outta the way, lets get ready to assault the base,"

"I still don't know why I ain't goin!" Lilith said

"Look Lilith," Roland said "We need somebody to look over Sanctuary in case this is a trap of some sort,"

"It's because of Angel isn't it?" Lilith said putting her hands on her hips.

"No! Damnit Lilith, just trust me please!" Roland said denying that question.

"Fine, but I'm going to be very pissed if you die!" Lilith said

"Noted," Roland said.

"But if you pull this off, I'm tearing those clothes right from your body!" Lilith said motioning Rolands figure.

"Uhhhh also noted," Roland said confused.

"Ughh! Lilith! We don't need to hear that!" Mordecai said disgusted at Lilith's remark.

"Alright, so we gotta get Clap Trap to help us through the first gate, then with enough firepower, we can breach the bunker, then Axton can use the voice modulator to get through the final gate. I'll meet up with you guys in the chamber by climbing up the cliff side. Any questions?" Roland asked

"Yeah I got one." Mordecai said "Why ain't I going?! These motherfuckers have to pay for Bloodwing!"

"And you will get it Mordecai! I just need somebody defending the base in case this is a trap, alright?" Roland reassuring him.

"Okay..If you say so.." Mordecai said giving in. He could trust Roland more than anybody else.

"Give 'em hell guys!" Lilith said.

Just before the Vault hunters and Roland were going to walk out. Lilith grabbed Roland's shoulder

"Hey Roland..." Lilith asked.

"Yeah Lilith?" Roland asked.

"You remember when we first got to Pandora?" She asked

"Heheh, crystal clear..."

_The bus began to slowly creep up on the 'peaceful town called Fyrestone. _

"_Next stop, Fyrestone!" Marcus yelled_

_Marcus began to slow the bus down before it came to a halt at the station. Marcus opened the doors to let his four passengers out of the car. _

"_Man, what a shitty ride that was, what do you think, Blood?" Mordecai asked talking to his bird, who screeched in agreement._

"_The seat was sticky...Why was it sticky?" Lilith asked while stepping off the bus_

"_They need to make these thing more 'badass' accessible," Brick said while stepping off, squeezing through with his giant muscles._

_Roland was the last to get off the bus, as he stepped off, he handed Marcus some extra money, then asked him._

"_Can you stay here a bit? We need to check out the town, make sure it's safe."_

"_No worries my friend!" Marcus said to Roland._

_The four then began to walk over to the funny little robot (Per instructions from the guardian angel)._

"_Welcome to Fyrestone," The annoying voice said._

"_I am called CL4P-TP, you may call me by my locally designated name, Claptrap! Before continuing, please accept these ECHO communicators and heads up display, provided free of charge, by the Dahl corporation!" He said handing each of them seperate communicators._

"_Cool," Lilith said looking at it._

"_Yes! It is indeed 'Cool'!" The robot chimed in._

'_Now let's head into the peaceful town of Fyrestone!" Claptrap said trying to open up the gates._

_The was a faint motor revving heard in the distance, which gradually became louder and louder._

"_Oh no...is that?...Oh no! Not again! RUUUUUUNNNN!" Claptrap screamed before ducking for cover._

_A bandit technical launched off a hill, landing onto the other side of the gate, began spinning in circles while shooting up the town. The technicals dropped off 15 Bandits to fight off the intruders._

"_Alright boys, take 'em out!" The bandits yelled before opening fire on the Vault Hunters._

"_Shit take cover!" Roland yelled at his allies._

"_There's too many of them!" Mordecai yelled to Roland "We should have never come here!" _

_As soon as Mordecai said that, faint gunshots were heard from a distance, the Bandits began to get taken out, one by one. Some getting shot in the heart, others getting their heads completely scooped off. The gunfire didn't cease until all of the bandits were dead. Only one bandit was remaining, who climbed up onto the rocket turret on the car and fired a rocket into the distance, to try and kill the assassin, but was instantly shot in the head._

"_Well," Mordecai said standing up. "That guardian angel chica lives up to her name,"_

"_Yeah seriously," Lilith concurred "She saved us badly."_

_As soon as she said that, the bus operated by Marcus Kincaid suddenly took off like a bat outta hell, despite Roland telling him to stay there._

"_HEY!" Mordecai yelled running out to the road_

"_YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO WAIT FOR US! VENTE EL DIABLO YOU SONUVABITCH!"_

"_Damnit!" Mordecai yelled throwing his sniper rifle down "I knew we shouldn't have trust that fat bastard!"_

"_Forget it Mordecai," Roland said calming his friend down. "We gotta keep moving, lets go find Claptrap so he can get this door open for us."_

"How could any of us forget Lilith?" Roland said

"Well," Lilith said "Go get 'em Tiger"

Lilith then pressed her lips against Roland's, holding it for about five second before pulling away.

"Well...uh...uhh...See you when I get back I guess," Roland said stunned at Lilith's actions.

He then took one look, then walked away from Lilith, praying that he'll get to see her again.

"So wheres Claptrap?" Salvador asked.

"He's probably at his little house-slash-dump right next to Zed's" Axton said.

"Oh and FYI," Roland said, "It may take some serious persuasion to get Claptrap to come with us."

"Minion!" Claptrap said to Axton "Let's go to Thousand Cuts!"

"Or not..." Roland said.

By the time they reached Thousand cuts, the sun was directly over the Vault Hunter's. Roland split up from the group so he can climb the cliff face to reach the chamber.

_'After this Jack...'_ Axton thought _'There's nothing stopping me from killing you...'_

'There's the gate," Zer0 said to the three.

"Alright Claptrap," Axton said, "Time for you to shine,"

"You betcha minion!" Claptrap said "Charge!"

Claptrap then went full speed through the forcefield, not vaporizing him, signifying that the update was successful and Bloodwing's sacrifice wasn't in vain. Claptrap then stopped then looked back at the four.

"You...you coming guys?" Claptrap asked confused. "Oh yeah, you're not a Hyperion robot, well lemme get this gate open for you!"

Claptrap then punched the codes into the computer, shutting off the forcefield.

"Yes!" Claptrap said in success "Now we'll take the fight to Hyperion!, they will pay for what they did to my kind, I will kill them all!"

A couple of WAR Loaders were tossed in front of Claptrap by the moon base.

"**EXTERMINATE. ANNOYING ROBOT"**

"I take it back! I won't! FUCK THIS SHIT!" Claptrap screamed while speeding away as fast as he could, leaving the hunters to deal with Hyperion.

"Oh this is great!" Axton said "How are we supposed to kill them all?!"

"Like this!" A gruff voice from the ECHO device said, while dozens of Buzzards flew in to deal with the Loaders.

"Brick!" Roland said in shock over the ECHO "Man am I glad to hear from you!"

"Yeah likewise" Brick said, "Now what do you say we kill some Hyperion bitches?"

"Sounds good friend," Axton said over the ECHO.

After countless hours of battling to get to the top. They finally reached the summit of the base, thanks to Brick's army of Slabs (Who were friggin idiots) . As they reached the top, they heard over the ECHO a familiar laugh, it was cocky, it was confident, it was evil, it was...

"Jack..." Axton muttered to himself.

"Oh come now!" Jack said over the ECHO "You seriously think I would protect Angels chamber with a couple of pathetic robots and flimsy guns. No... Dipshits, I would like you to meet..."

He took a pause to activate a giant floating robot that came from the face of the bunker

"BNK-3R' Jack said in pride "Designed it myself!"

'_Bullshit...'_ Axton muttered _'I DID'_

"Now do me a favor and die..." Jack said coldly cutting off the microphone.

"I don't think so," Axton said "Listen! The robots weak point is the underside, there should be a little crevice that isn't properly protected! SHOOT THERE!"

"How do you know that?" Maya said confused

"Just trust me Maya!" Axton yelled before opening fire on the bottom side on BNK-3R.

The must've spent 45 minutes and $5,000 on ammunition to bring BNK-3R on the brink of destruction, before it was finally finished off by Axton's rocket launcher.

"Suck on this," He said before launching the rocket into the crevice of the giant robot, completely destroying it. It made a crash landing on one of the pillars of the bunker. All of the Vault hunters heard the evilest and sinister laugh coming from Brick, signifying they were victorious over the best piece of military hardware Hyperion could make.

"Were not outta the woods yet," Axton said "Let's get to the final gate,"

"I hope this works," Maya said

"Me too, " Axton concurred, "Otherwise, this would be all for nothing."

Axton then put the voice module on his neck, transforming him to the likenesses of Handsome Jack, also giving him his voice too.

"Ohhh great," Axton said in Jack's tone "Now I have the voice of a fucking douchebag...dandy."

They made their way into the final gate, which was located under the bunker, they came across a small door.

"Well, here it goes," Axton said before walking into the chamber,

"Executing bio scan." a robot voice said beaming a laser across Axton's body, scanning to make sure that he looked like Handsome Jack.

"Bioscan complete; Hello Sexy! Please enter the password into the microphone." The robot said.

"Alright," Angel said "The password is: 'I love you'".

Axton then pressed the button on the Microphone and spoke into the microphone the same words Angel said.

"I Love You," He said.

"Access Granted!" The robots said prompting a sigh of relief between the four of them.

Axton then forcibly ripped the module off and crushed it with his foot, so nobody can impersonate Handsome Jack. The walked over to the elevator, which took them down into Angel's chambers (hopefully).

"Thees ees a beeg ass elevator," Salvador said.

They got off the elevator and began to walk to the chambers, but were seemingly warped into a different dimension.

"The only way The Vault key can be destroyed, is if the Catalyst who is powering it is, which is a Siren in this case." Angel explained "The Vault key is indeed here, but in order to completely destroy it, you have to destroy...Me." Angel said revealing that she was the third Siren Jack was talking about earlier.

"My God...Angel..." Axton said completely stunned "It really IS you isn't it?"

"Axton?" Angel said "Is that you? You need to help me destroy the Vault key, without it, Jack won't be able to-"

"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER!" Jack screamed over the ECHO the pulling Angel into her incarceration chamber, which kept pumping and pumping her with pure Eridium, so she can charge the key again.

"Angel!" Axton said

"How do you know her?!" Maya said now extremely confused

"I'll explain later! But now we gotta end this!" Axton told Maya

"Axton!" Angel said "Make sure you kill that ba-"

"Ah, ah, ah, LANGUAGE" Jack said scolding her daughter.

"Destroy the three pumps that supply me with Eridium!" Angel said "That should do it!"

Axton then took one look at Angel before saying softly,

"I'm sorry..." Then began to open fire on one of the pumps, causing it to burst and make Angel scream in pain.

"Oh no you dont'! Shields up!" Jack said putting defense shields on the pumps.

"Did I miss something?" Roland said entering the room "Or is Angel a goddamn Siren?!"

"Roland!" Angel yelled to him "Turn off the shield mechanisms on the top part of pump so they can destroy it!"

"Alright!" Roland said hacking into the computer.

"Angel please!" Jack pleading over the speakers in the room "Don't do this please! I'll still forgive you sweetie!"

"Make sure you kill him Axton.." Angel said

"Oh I will..." Axton said reassuring her.

"Okay!" Roland said "Shield 2 is down! Destroy it!"

Maya then opened fire on the second pump, despite hesitating at first. She didn't like the fact that she was killing her own kind, but knew this would end her suffering for good. The pump finally burst, spewing Eriduim all over the place, causing Angel to scream in pain again.

"I don't think so, asshole!" Jack said turning off the bridge Roland used to access the computer.

"Damnit!" Roland said "Now how the hell am I supposed to get up their?!"

"Sup..." A Voice from behind him said.

"Lilith?!" Roland said "I told you not to come here!"

"Yeah, and I didn't listen." She said defiantly "I can help you get up there so you can shut off the generator!"

"Alright, lets do it!' Roland said before getting phased up to the computer mechanism

"This may take awhile, champ, so make sure you defend yourselves against the loaders!"

'_Champ?' _Axton thought.

"**EXTERMINATE" **The Robotic voices said.

"Here ya guys go!" Axton said pulling out his Sentry gun.

"TWO GUNS BITCHES!" Salvador yelled while dual-wielding his Spiniguns.

After five minutes of constant fighting, Roland yelled down from below.

"Okay! The Shields down! Finish this!"

"Gladly," Axton said shooting the final pump, thus ending Angel's suffering.

"Axton...thank you...I knew I could count on you.." Angel said

"NOOO! ANGEL! PLEASE!" Jack screamed over the microphone.

Angel then collapsed on the floor, she knew her time was up.

On her last breaths she managed to say this:

"Dad? There's always something I wanted to say to you...Fuck You,"

She then collapsed on the floor, finally breathing her last breaths.

"What kind of a father would do this to their own daughter?" Lilith asked

"The kind who deserves to die," Roland said sternly.

"Angel...I'm sorry," Axton said softly looking at her dead body. He did the right thing, but he couldn't help but feel guilty about it.

Roland kneeled down besides Angel, checking her pulse, there was none.

"Angel's dead..." Roland said "That means Jack lost his only way to get into the Vault, Lilith."

"Yeah?" She asked

"I need you to go back to Sanctuary and tell Mordecai that we have the Vault key,"

She nodded in agreement.

"As for you guys, I need you to take the Vault key and make sure Jack doesn't-"

**BANG **

"ROLAND!" Lilith screamed as she saw the bullet pierce through his chest.

Handsome Jack teleported behind Roland and shot him in the back, prompting him to greet his adversaries with a simple:

"SUP,"

"You Bastard!" Lilith said, her rage becoming more and more amped up thinking about her ex, but probably become boyfriend had he not been shot and killed.

"I'M GONNA-"

She was interrupted by Jack who threw a mind controlling device that twisted her way of thinking, ceasing all her rage.

"Ah Ah Ah, watch the language." Jack said coolly.

"I can't believe you would kill my own daughter." Jack said walking out of the chamber "What's that saying? Don't fuck with a man who has nothing to lose? Well you all are about to know how that feels."

"I already know..." Axton said

He then charged at Jack with his hatchet to try and finish him off, but was suspended mid air along with the rest of the hunters by Lilith, who was being controlled by Jack, he laughed a little at Axton.

"Axton, my old friend" Handsome Jack said while walking up to him slowly.

"You should have never set foot on this shithole of a planet. Now that I have Lilith under my control, I'll have the key charged in no time. So Lilith." Jack said coldly

"Do me a favor, and kill these Vault Hunters."

"NO!" She screamed before teleporting them into the town square of Sanctuary.

Silence.

"What the fuck just happened!?" Mordecai yelled over the ECHO "First Bloodwing, now Roland?! Vault hunters, get your asses back to HQ, we gotta get Lilith back!"

Axton hung his head down to the ground in guilt.

'_Goddammit'_ he thought _'Why Roland?'_

He was in a trance for a couple of second before a half pissed, half confused Maya asked.

"Okay, what the hell was that? What does Jack mean by 'Old friend'?!" Maya yelled

"Maya, please," Axton said

"NO! Don't say 'please' and walk away! I want answers damnit, and I want them NOW." Maya said, now fully angry.

Now it was Axton's turn to get angry.

"Okay, you want answers? FINE."

Maya then said "Well tell me then!"

Axton then paused for a minute, then sighed and said,

"It's better if I show you..."


	7. Chapter 6: Checkered Pasts

Chapter 6

"But first," Axton explained to Maya "We better tell the people of Sanctuary what happened to Roland. None of them would have been alive if it weren't for him..."

"...Alright," Maya said quietly "But I better get some answers-"

"And you will," Axton snapped back.

The four made their way around Sanctuary, telling people what happened to the leader of the Crimson Raiders, who was shot in the back, by a coward. One by one, they were grief stricken to know that the person that saved their lives was killed. Some reminisced seeing him for thr first time. Telling him to kill some of Nine-Toes men, jumping Piss-wash Gully, and buying new weapons. Moxxi began to silently weeping to herself because she always perceived Roland as the only Gentleman-like figure (Besides Axton and Mordecai), it was clear that the lives of Sanctuary would be forever changed. Brick, who was now called the Slab-King was also deeply saddened by the loss of his friend, despite him and Roland not seeing eye-to-eye most of the time.

"I can't believe the motherfucker killed him..." Brick said who was now staying at the Raiders HQ.

"Jack is gonna pay for this...Roland and I may have gone our separate ways a few years back, but goddammit we was my friend! AND NOBODY KILLS MY FRIENDS!" He yelled before punching a hole in the wall (which was made of solid concrete).

"Roland...son of a bitch..." Mordecai said hanging his head down the ground. "He's not taking Lilith...I've lost too much...Blood...and now my friend is dead...I'm not losing Lilith..."

Axton couldn't help but feel responsible for this sorrow, what the hell was he thinking? He was ENTIRELY to blame for this mess. He walked over to Mordecai hand put his hand on Mordecai's shoulder.

"Mordecai...I'm sorry," Axton said quietly.

"It's okay amigo..." Mordecai said quietly "Shit happens..."

"Alright Axton." Maya said sternly "Where's those answers?"

"Alright..." Axton said quietly.

He walked into the room where he was staying in then went over to his shelf and pulled out one of the drawers, pulling out an old ECHO device, then walked back to the main computer, right next to the deck.

"What's that?" Maya asked

"It's my old ECHO device," Axton said looking down at it, pulling a memory chip that was plugged into the device. He then put the chip into the main computer and put it on the main screen.

"From when you served in Dahl?" She then asked

"No..." Axton said before taking a breath

"Hyperion..."

He then pushed play on the screen.

-7 YEARS AGO-

"Hey...Axton," a voice said to the half asleep soldier.

"Hey...Wake up,"

Axton then fully opened his eyes to come face to face with Jack. Who was sitting on the drivers side of a military Humvee, while he was in the passenger seat. Both of them were in a set of armor, but they're helmets were taken off.

"What is it John?" Axton asked rubbing his eyes

"You wouldn't want to miss this Axton," Jack said to him

Axton then fully sprang to life when he heard then asked Jack.

"Wait...Is it actually happening now?" Axton asked rubbing the fog that was blurring the windshield.

"Yeah," Jack said "Can you imagine? Two of the biggest corporations in the galaxy joining forces to ensure global dominion? We'll be unstoppable Axton."

Axton then pulled out his binoculars so he could get a closer look of the exchange.

It was between the Hyperion and the Atlas corporation. They have been having a useless squabble over the decades on who was the superior company over who.. Atlas was mainly focused on military production, hence the Crimson Lance; The galaxies largest military. However, Hyperion had the best technology in the dominion and had it's own privatized military (which was more skilled than the Lance, but had fewer numbers). With billions of dollars blown away by each corporation, just to prove their dominance, only to be known as equals at the end of the day, they decided to come to a truce and join forces so they would dominate the galaxy, snuffing out any minor companies such as Maliwan, Torgue, and Tediore.

"Good afternoon Mr. Blake," a gruff military voice said.

"Likewise, General Knoxx, I am sorry to inform you that the Owner of Hyperion could not attend this meeting, due to prior engagements," Mr. Blake said holding out his hand, which Knoxx grabbed and shook.

"It's a damn shame..." General Knoxx said

"What's going on?" Jack asked Axton who were still in the truck.

"They're just talking," Axton said still looking through the binoculars.

"Mr. Blake, this is Lieutenant Steele," Knoxx said looking over to Lieutenant Steele.

"It's a pleasure, Mr. Blake," Steele said holding out her hand

"Likewise, Ma'am," Mr. Blake said addressing her with the proper respect and shaking her hand.

There was a Crimson Lance soldier that was patrolling around the vicinity and was guarding Steele and Knoxx in case anything should happen. The same thing went for Hyperion, except Jack and Axton were stationed in the car.

"You think It'll work?" Axton asked Jack, which he responded.

"I hope so, but anything can happen," He said paying close attention to the exchange.

Axton then went back to looking in his binoculars, looking around the place. It was in a part of the city of Hyperius that was closed off so no interference could possibly happen. Axton then began looking around the buildings, seeing no one in them, he kept looking around, until he saw a foaint glimmer of light in one of the windows.

"Shit..." Axton said quietly,

**BANG**

A sniper shot was heard from a distance, shooting Knoxx right in the chest, then another shot was fired, piercing Blake in the kidney,. Then another shot was fired, but this time, one of the soldiers was prepared and then took a bullet for Lieutenant Steele, so she would survive. Steele quickly went over to Knoxx, who was on the ground, clutching his chest, she began angry and looked at Blake.

"The Hyperion bastards set us up! KILL THEM!" Steele yelled draggin Knoxx to the nearest truck and driving away with him in the back seat.

"Ah shit, we were so close!" Jack yelled, but then ducking for cover, along with Axton as the windshield broke from bullet penetration.

"We gotta save Blake!" Jack said to Axton

"Alright, let's' go!" Axton yelled putting on his helmet and loading his submachine gun and cocking it.

They both stepped out of the humvee and began to shoot many Lance soldiers, the Lance was no match for the Hyperion military and their superior training regime.

"John! Grab Blake!" Axton yelled

"Alright! I got him," Jack said picking up Blake and putting him on his shoulders.

Just before Axton was about to run to the humvee, he saw the soldier that took the bullet for Steele sitting in the corner clutching his chest. For some reason Axton thought he was different from the rest, so he began to run over to the soldier, prompting Jack to ask in confusion.

"Axton! The hell are you doing?!" He yelled

"Just get to the humvee!" Axton said "I'll meet you there!"

Axton then ran over to the Lance soldier and then picked him up, which cause the Lance soldier to ask him,

"What are you doing, kid?" The soldier asked between coughs.

"Getting you outta here, here use this," Axton said handing him his gun "Provide me with cover !"

With the soldiers left arm over Axton's soldier, Axton began to run to the humvee where Jack was waiting for him. The soldier was shooting while providing Axton support so they could get out of there.

"Traitor!" A voice yelled from behind, as he charged at the soldier with a knife, prompting the Lance soldier to shoot him down with the SMG.

"Well," The soldier said "I just killed my CO,"

"Doesn't matter they probably think you're dead!" Axton said dragging him to the humvee and putting him in the backseat with Mr. Blake, who was clutching his kidney in pain. Axton then ran to the front seat and shut the door.

"Drive! Drive" He yelled quickly to Jack, who put his foot on the gas and sped out of the combat zone.

After they were clear from the storm, Axton looked in the back and asked Mr. Blake.

"Hey Mr. Blake, how you holding up?" He asked.

"Well, I've had better days," Mr. Blake said before coughing, "I would be dead if it weren't for you two, so thank you."

"Hey," Jack said "We're doing our jobs."

"What about this man?" Blake said looking at the wounded soldier,

"I'll deal with him," Axton said.

They arrived at the Hyperion control facility, Axton then helped Mr. Blake out of the car and handed him to Jack.

"Here," Axton said "Take Blake inside, I'll deal with the soldier,"

"Alright," Jack said putting Mr. Blake over his shoulders "Make short work of him," He smirked and helped Blake into the facility.

Axton went back into the humvee and told the soldier to go up to the passenger seat (which he did). Then began to drive away.

"You can take your helmet off now," Axton said

"What about yours?" The soldier asked

"I'm keepin' mine on, for security reasons," Axton said.

"Fair enough," The soldier said.

He then removed his helmet to reveal that he was a dark-skinned man with hazel eyes, a slight goatee and a shaved head.

"What's your name?" Axton asked

"Roland," He said.

"Well Roland," Axton started "If Atlas somehow knows that you're still alive, they're going to be out for your blood, seeing as you killed your CO."

"Yeah, I know," Roland said hanging his head down, then touched his wound, and gritted his teeth from the pain.

"There should be a first aid kid in the glove compartment, along with some money, take both of them." Axton said pointing to the box

Roland opened the box to reveal a small first aid kid and a wad of about $10,000 stashed there.

"That should be enough to get you off world," Axton explained

"Off-world?" Roland asked.

"Well, yeah, you gotta lay low for a bit, go AWOL." Axton said.

They pulled up to a travel station that had many ships departing to various places in the galaxy. Pandora, the Eden dominion, Athenas and much more.

"Take the money, and buy a ticket to Eden-5. Atlas has no jurisdiction there so they can't hunt you down there," Axton said opening the passenger door for Roland.

"Alright, and soldier," Roland said before leaving the car.

"Yeah Roland?" Axton asked.

"Thank You," He said shaking his hand.

"No problem, now get outta here, before I get in trouble!" Axton said

Roland took one look then ran into the station, to board the next ship to Eden-5, where he should lay low for a few years or so.

All of the sudden, Axton's ECHO device came in with chatter that asked.

"Did you get rid of 'em?" Jack asked

"Yeah, he won't be a problem anymore," Axton said smirking.

"Awesome!" Jack said, "Well, Mr. Blake was so thankful that we saved his ass royally, that he's putting in a good word to the board of directors to get us a big promotion!" Jack said happily

"That's great!" Axton said happy as well."Well, I'll see you at the barracks I guess.'

"Yeah, see ya," Jack said before cutting off the mic.

Axton then looked at the ship that took off from the station.

'_Somehow, I think we'll meet again Roland' _Axton thought.


	8. Chapter 7: No Room For Disobedience

Chapter 7

-3 MONTHS LATER-

"My God...' Axton said looking at the lifeless body of Jack's wife, suspended from the ceiling, with a noose tied on her neck, with a knocked over chair next to it.

"What the hell happened here?" He wondered before he heard a faint noise running down the hall.

"Mommy?" The little girl said "Mommy!?"

Axton quickly shut the door that had the lifeless body there and confronted the girl running down the hallway with a smile on his face.

"Hi Angel!" Axton said kneeling down to her eye level.

"Axton..." Angel said sniffling a bit "I can't find my Mommy, where is she?"

Axton then paused and looked around a bit biting his lower lip trying to think of something, before coming into eye contact with the teary eye girl before saying.

"You Mom, Angel, she uhhhhh," He paused "She had to go away for a while,"

"When will she come back?" Angel said to Axton

Axton paused again before saying

"I don't know Angel.."

Angel then had tears freely streaming down her face.

"Hey come on," Axton said trying to cheer her up "Don't be like that Angel, you still have your daddy right?"

"Daddy says you're a bad person," Angel said wiping the tears from her face, causing Axton's face to become grim.

"He did?" Axton asked confused "Well, uhh, do you think I'm a bad person?"

"No..." Angel said

"Well there ya go!" Axton said patting her shoulder, which was covered up on one side for an unknown reason. "People's opinions matter Angel, but most importantly, it's what you think, okay?"

"Okay..." Angel said before hugging Axton "Thank you, Axton,"

Axton then pulled her away and said

"No problem Angel, just remember that your daddy loves you and is protecting you, okay?"

"I know..." Angel said

"Hey sweetie!" Jack said down the hallway

"Yeah, Daddy?' Angel said

"I got a surprise to show you Angel! Come on!" Jack said

"Okay..." Angel said running to her father and grabbing his hand.

They both walked down the hallway then made a left turn at another corridor, Jack took one look at Axton then continued to walk down the hallway.

'_What are you up to John?' _Axton thought to himself.

-3 MONTHS LATER-

It was a bright and sunny day on the scorching planet known as Pandora. Axton was sitting on a cliff side, holding a high-tech sniper rifle developed by Hyperion. He was looking down at a street that could barely be considered a street, due to the poor conditions of the road, driving on that road would be a challenge in itself, let alone survive in this hellish wasteland. He then went into his back pocket and pulled out his binoculars to get a closer look at the road. Pandora was truly a shithole, it seemed that no order was in place in this planet, and nothing seemed to have sentimental value. Yet he couldn't help but feel a certain charm to this planet, as if there was more to this planet than most people would ever see. But until then, Pandora was a shithole in his eyes.

True to Mr. Blake's word, he put a good word to the board of Hyperion directors for both him and Jack to earn them higher executive roles. As a final mission as a soldier on the field, he took on the role of a Corporate Sanctioned Assassin, killing murderers, cutthroats, and terrorists alike. He was wearing a Combat uniform with tan boots and a couple of magazine pouches in his vest. He felt that one more tour of duty before he shoved off to become an executive felt right, because after this he would become an executive in the Hyperion branch.

"They coming up yet?" A voice said from his Echo communicator.

Axton pushed the microphone button and said.

"No John, nothing yet,"

Axton then paused and saw a small cloud of dust inching closer and closer to a town that had practically no inhabitants whatsoever.

"Wait..." Axton said "I see something," pulling up his binoculars to have an even closer look.

Axton then saw an extremely worn down bus slowly creeping up to the desolate town of fyrestone, the windows were replaced with metal shards so no potential harm could come to driver (at least he assumed). He couldn't see anybody in the bus yet, but intend to see soon enough.

Axton put his binoculars away, picked up his sniper, pressed the eject button, then the scope slid forward electronically. He placed a fresh magazine into the magazine catch, the sniper, detecting a magazine inside the catch, automatically closed itself up and cocked back the bolt, so it was ready for action. Axton then looked through the scope of the gun to get an even closer look, he saw the doors swing open and saw some figures step out, he could hear what they were saying faintly.

The first one stepped out with a bird on his shoulders said

"Man, what a shitty ride that was, what do you think, Blood?" then hearing a screech from the bird.

"The seat was sticky...why was it sticky," The 2nd passenger said walking out of the bus, Axton noticed the tattoos on her shoulder.

'_Maybe she's the target...' _Axton thought to himself.

"They need to make these things more badass accessible!" Another voice said stepping out of the bus, Axton couldn't get over huge he was, each one of his biceps were equivalent of his head, hell, he could probably crush his head with his bicep!

Then finally the last person stepped out, Axton couldn't believe his eyes who he saw.

"Roland..." He said quietly to himself, the last time he saw Roland he sent him off to the space station with a first aid kit and a wad of cash, he was in bad shape, and he felt kinda guilty that he didn't have the chance to patch him up properly before shoving him off.

"The hell you doing here?"

"Can you stay here for a bit?" Roland said "We need to check out the town for a bit,"

"No worries friend!" Another voice said from within the bus (Presumably the driver).

Axton then pressed the communication button on his ECHO and told Jack

"John, four people just stepped out of the bus, 3 Male, 1 Female, the girl has tattoos on her left shoulder, you think this is the one?"

"What color is her eyes?" Jack asked over the radio

Axton then zoomed in to get a closer look of the supposed Siren. He saw them being led to the town of Fyrestone by a Hyperion built robot. He zoomed in on her face then radioed to Jack.

"She has bright hazel eyes, and her hair is a sharp red color,"

"Bingo," Jack said "That's the one, remember, the Siren is the target, it's alright if you kill the rest but kill the Siren. Radio to me for evac. John, out."

Axton then began to look through the sniper and steady his aim. Until he heard the robot say.

"Oh no...Is that?...Oh No not again! RUUUUUN!" The robot screamed before taking cover.

Axton then saw a couple of vehicles drive over the cliffside and land in front of the 4 people. Axton confirmed that about 15 bandits jumped out of the cars and began to open fire on the people.

"Damnit," Axton muttered under his breath.

He then remembered Roland and that how he saw something in that person, some undefinable trait that made them worth living for. He saw it in all four of them, especially Roland, who seemed like the leader of the group at this point.

"Fuck this Shit," He silently said then began to open fire on the bandits who were attacking the hunters.

It was no problem taking care of the bandits because of three advantages; 1, Axton was a trained marksman at this point, while the bandits weren't, 2, he had the higher ground, and 3, he had the best weaponry money could buy while the bandit's weapons were held together with loose duct tape and dried up snot.

He saw one of the bandits get into the turret of the vehicle and fire a rocket at him (following the gunshot pattern and bullet impact of his sniper).

"Oh no you don't," he said before scooping off his head completely.

He then saw man wearing goggles and a mask stand up and say

"Well, that Guardian Angel chica lives up to her name,"

The Siren concurred with the man.

'_Who the hell is the "Guardian Angel"? _Axton thought

He completely forgot about the missile that was heading straight towards him, as soon as he realized, he yelled,

"OH SHIT!" and jumped from that vantage point, the rocket completely obliterated his vantage point. He tried to latch on to other jutting rocks and shrubs to try and break his fall, which worked to some extent. He hit the ground quite hard despite his efforts.

He slowly got up from the ground he landed in and was about to call for evac, but then thought in hindsight that they would kill the four Vault Hunters when they arrive. He saw that the bus was still stationed there, where Roland told him to stay, he quickly ran to the bus, making sure he wouldn't get caught, pulled out his pistol and yelled at Marcus.

"Drive!" He yelled

"But-the-the-Roland told me to-" Marcus stuttered only to be interrupted.

"I said DRIVE!" Axton yelled pointing the gun closer to his face.

Without hesitation, Marcus threw the car into drive, and took off from Fyrestone like a bat outta hell. Axton could see through the rear mirror the masked man run out to the highway and yell and throw his gun down. They entered a tunnel and were shrouded in darkness for a bit, before entering the light again.

"Stop here," Axton said sternly

Marcus then slowly hit the brakes on the bus until it came to a halt.

"Are you gonna kill me?" Marcus asked worried, hoping that Axton would spare him.

"No.." Axton said lowering his pistol.

Marcus let out a sigh of relief, only to get greeted with the butt of the gun meeting his face at high velocities, knocking him unconscious and landing face first on the steering wheel, causing a constant horn to be sounded off.

Axton took one look at Marcus before exiting the bus and began walking some distance away from the bus. Axton then picked up his radio and pressed the microphone button.

"John, it's Axton, I need that evac," Axton said.

"DId you kill the Siren?" Jack asked.

Axton paused for a minute, then pressed the mic button again.

"Negative...There were complications..." Axton said deeper, causing Jack to let out a sigh, then saying.

"Alright...Evac's heading your way...John out."

Axton shut off his Echo device. About 3 minutes later, a helicopter hovered down to Axton's location, then the main door sliding open, to reveal Jack was in the helicopter, wearing a tuxedo suit without the Jacket itself and had two guns holstered on his shoulder belt. Axton then walked into the copter and shut the door. As soon as Axton was confirmed inside the chopper, the pilots began to gain altitude and forward velocity.

"I tell ya, Axton" Jack said to Axton "This place needs a good fixin'"

Axton paused then responded "...I guess. Hey, what happened to Angel? I haven't seen her in about 3 months now.."

Jack looked at Axton then said to him

"Angel's attending a boarding school now, she really likes it there," Jack said reassuring Axton.

"Oh...good," Axton said

"Yeah..." Jack said quietly.

Axton studied Jack for a bit and wondered...

'_Why would Samantha commit suicide?'_


	9. Chapter 8: Athenas Shrugged

Chapter 8

- 3 MONTHS LATER-

"Please! No! I don't wanna die!" Then man tied to the chair shrieked to the two men standing in front of them wearing full suits.

"Well maybe you should've thought about it before you gave valuable Hyperion evidence out!"

Jack yelled at the man pulling out his gun holstered on his shoulder.

Axton was standing right next to him looking at Jack when he pulled out his pistol. They were inside of a small room that had little to no lighting whatsoever. Hyperion caught a man giving out weapon technological blueprints for their line of next generation guns, without the consent of Hyperion. Hyperion considers this treason and must be dealt with immediately, so they left it to the executives Axton and Jack to deal with it.

"So tell me now...WHO DID YOU CONTACT!?" Jack yelled at the man.

Then man was breathing extremely fast from the pressure he was put through but managed to stutter out.

"Uh...uh...I gave some info to Maliwan...I figured that this technology would be put in the right hands!" The man said

"Hehehe, you hear that Axton? Sounds like this man wants to have even competition!" Jack said to Axton

Axton took a glance at Jack then looked back at the man. Jack then walked up to the man and pointed the gun to his face and said

"Well, I appreciate you being so honest with us"

The man completely frightened screamed "Hey HEY WHAT THE FUCK MAN! I...I TOLD YOU EVERYTHING!"

"Yeah but you seemed to give out info, which is the equivalent of treason," Jack explained "Tellin' us why you did it doesn't earn you a reprieve..."

Jack then smiled at the man and said "Goodnight..."

**BANG**

"NO!" Axton yelled witnessing Jack scoop the man's head clean off.

"What?" Jack said looking at him confused

"You didn't have to-" Axton said but interrupted by Jack who said

"WHY? You would never do it you left me no choice! Damnit Axton when will you get your head out of your ass and figure out that this is our job!"

Axton then looked back at the now decapitated man the said

"There's always a choice..."

"Well when you're done actin' all wise-ass, we gotta ship to catch," Jack said beginning to walk out of the room.

"To where?" Axton asked

Jack turned around and said to him

"Athenas."

It was about a 6 hour ship ride to the planted of Athenas, due to the incredible speeds of the Hyperion transport ships. When they arrived, they were escorted with Mr. Blake onto a helicopter that took them to the city of Helios, about 10 miles away from the city. Axton and Jack were still wearing their suits when they stepped out into the bright sun. Axton began to wonder why they would drop down roughly 10 miles from the actual city itself.

"This is the city of Helios," Jack explained "They call this the city of the sun. This is the place where we show them our true strength, maybe it will give you some as well.

"What exactly are we doing here?" Axton asked

"Were trying to root out a person who can disrupt our plans, think of it as tying up loose ends," Jack said pulling out a little device.

"Who?" Axton asked looking at the device the looking up at Jack.

"**A Siren,**" Jack said before pressing the button.

A Flash. That was what all Axton could see, and then chaos unfolded before as he watched an entire city that supposedly contained the woman that Jack wanted dead was hiding out in Helios, the intelligence isn't solid, but he didn't wanted to take any chances, was nuked.

"No..." Axton said quietly.

"This is the start of something incredible Axton," Jack said still looking at the mushroom cloud that enveloped the city.

"Incredible?" Axton asked "You call pointless genocide, murder and manslaughter Incredible?!" He yelled at Jack

"Oh spare me," Jack scoffed " You seriously think that a conservative mindset like that can chart a successful direction for Hyperion's future? You seem very misguided if you think that. Aggressive expansion is key when running a business, make fear your greatest ally."

Axton couldn't believe what he was hearing, it's what he was afraid of this whole time. This executive appointment all got to Jack's head, and he began to lose sense of what was right or wrong.

"Now if you're done looking at the view, we have to get out of here," Jack said walking back to the helicopter which had Mr. Blake standing in front of it waiting for them.

Axton stared at the nuclear cloud that shrouded the city in darkness and death and he thought to himself before getting in the chopper

'_What have you done, John?'_

They were only about 20 minutes airborne looking down at the wreckage of Helios now that the smoke has cleared. Then a whooshing sound was heard in the distance. Jack noticed it and looked around the cabin then asked

"The hell is that?"

Axton could see from the corner of his eyes a gleaming white metal object approaching the chopper very fast with a smoke trail coming from behind it.

"Incoming missile!" Axton yelled

It was a direct impact on the tail of the helicopter, causing the chopper to take massive damage and lose completely control of itself. As it spun uncontrollably towards the city of Helios, Axton yelled to everybody.

"HANG ON!"

The helicopter rapidly approached the city and right before it hit the ground, Axton braced for impact. Then...Silence...

Axton slowly regained consciousness after the crash, he reckoned he must've been out for about 10 minutes. He crawled towards the cockpit to find both of the pilots completely mangled beyond recognition.

"Damnit," Axton coughed wiping the blood that trickled from his mouth. He then took off his suit seeing as it wasn't a necessity and so he could get around easier.

He went back into the cabin to look for Jack and Blake, Jack was lying on the ground along with Blake, both were in good shape. Axton reckoned he may have 2 cracked ribs by now.

"Hey...John," Axton said shaking Jack.

Jack slowly began to regain consciousness and grab his head in pain, followed by Mr. Blake standing up wiping the dust from his Jacket

"Ughhhh...What happened?" Jack said slowly coughing a bit.

"I dunno..." Axton said "I think we crash landed in the city of Helios, or was Helios, and both the pilots are dead."

"Fuggin' perfect," Jack said

"If I may sirs" Mr. Blake said " We'd best get out of this wreckage and head for inside cover, this nuclear fission can prove most harmful to us,"

"Alright," Axton said "I'll get the door,"

It took some effort to get the door open because it was jammed due to the wreckage so some force was needed from Axton to pry it open, and when he finally got the door open, he was greeted by a completely destroyed city, with not a living soul in sight.

"My God..." Axton said quietly "What have you done John?"

"Showed the world our true strength," Jack said handing Axton a shotgun from inside the cabin

"Didn't you hear my speech before the shit winds occurred?"

"Yeah..." Axton said "Let's get inside before our skin burns."

The three of them sprinted to the closest building they could find that actually had four walls, a ceiling, and a floor that surrounded it. Most of the building were vaporized by the blast, and others just began to slowly deteriorate.

"How the fuck will you explain this John?" Axton asked while looking around the dark building

"Me? Fuck that, I'm gonna say it was Atlas," Jack said laughing

"But you said-" Axton tried to say before being interrupted

"Aggressive expansion, snuff out the competition so we dominate, if Atlas is supposedly responsible for this, they're gonna get shut down, permanently. You should be taking notes," Jack said

Axton then glared at Jack, then looked at Blake then asked.

"Do you know how many people lived here Blake?"

Blake then looked up at the ceiling then said

"90,844 people approximately sir."

"Jesus..." Axton said to himself

"I've requested an evacuation sir," Blake said to Jack putting down a communicator "A jumpship should be waiting for us approximately 2 miles from our location,"

"Alright, so we best keep movin-"

"Wait.." Axton said

He heard faint footsteps from across the room. Survivors? How could they have possibly survive an atomic blast? Axton had to figure out for himself so he slowly walked over to where he heard the disturbance.

"What is it?" Jack whispered

"I heard something," Axton whispered back

Axton then slowly approached a human like figure that was slouched over eating something from off the ground. Axton then shined his flashlight on the person to find out that the man's skin was entirely burnt, off, and as the man turned around, his face was missing and his eyeballs had no sockets in them, yet he could somehow see, his teeth were blood red along with his eyes. His cloths must've burned off from the glass, and the radiation must've affected his mind because he was eating another human. This man must have been indoors when the blast happened, otherwise he would be completely vaporized from it. As the flashlight came into the mans vision, he completely freaked out and sprinted at Axton screaming his lungs, hoping that he would get another meal, only to be shot down by Axton's shotgun.

"What...In the fuck...was that," Jack asked blown away by the ghoulish appearing man.

"He must've been irradiated after the blast, he was indoors when this happened, this man was better off vaporized." Axton said having a closer look.

As soon as Axton finished his sentence, he heard several screams from a distance, more of them were coming, and equally as hungry as the one Axton killed.

"Aw fuck, we gotta MOVE!" Axton yelled making a break for the exit along with Jack and Blake.

All three of them made a break to the exit, chased by a crowd of ghouls that were equally as irradiated as the last one.

"Where's the evac?!" Axton yelled to Blake

"About 2 miles from here!" Blake said keeping up with Jack and Axton "Its on the main street!"

"Move your asses lets GO!" Jack said taking one look at the crowd of ghouls following them through the radiated city of Helios, the main street was in sight, along with the jump ship evac.

Axton shot a couple of rounds back at the crowd to try and thin out the crowd, which worked, taking out about 6 of the 100 ghouls that were following them.

The hatch for the evac dropped down and a squadron of soldiers wearing hazard suits stepped out and helped thin out the hoard even more. They then escorted the three to the ship, then the soldiers boarded the plane.

"We're good. Take off!" One of the soldiers said

"Roger, we're Oscar Mike." A soldier said before punching the throttle taking the shuttle to the air.

Axton was sitting on one of the stool wiping the sweat and blood from his face. His hands were very scratched up from the crash and his face and body was bruised and aching, all that running didn't exactly help his cracked ribs either. He ran his hand through his messed up hair that was covered in blood and sweat. He took a glance outside of the window to see once again, the destroyed city of Helios. One of the skyscrapers collapsed to the ground shortly before they left. He never really got to experience the true destructive nature of an atomic blast, up until now. Both Blake and Jack had no severe wounds on them aside from some bruises and cuts, so no medical attention was needed immediately. After looking at the destroyed city for about a minute, he turned back to Jack and thought to himself.

'_What happened to you Jack? You used to be a good guy...'_


	10. Chapter 9: God is Wearing Black

Chapter 9

-1 YEAR LATER-

"What's going on? What the hell is this?" Axton said looking at the giant apparatus that was in front of them.

"Its an Eridium pump." Jack said to him looking at the giant machine.

"Eridium?" Axton asked

"Yes, When the four people you failed to assassinate on Pandora opened up the legendary Vault, they found it to have no treasure, rather it be an intergalactic prison used by the ancient aliens to keep the Destroyer from harming anybody," Jack explained.

"Destroyer?" Axton asked

"Oh for God's sake, it's like a giant squid thing, Okay?" Jack said pinching his temples.

"Anyway, when they killed the Destroyer, they inadvertently triggered a rapid growth of Eridium on the planet Pandora. Atlas Corporation is officially been taken off the map, due to the..well..incident at Athenas. I've ordered a lot of robots down to the planet to excavate out the Eridium, this shit is priceless man, I'm rich now!" Jack yelled

"...I?" Axton asked

"Oh...yeah...I mean us," Jack said

"What about the executives? They okay with this?" Axton asked looking at Jack suspiciously.

"Executive? What Executives? They all cashed out on their stocks so theres nobody but us running Hyperion now! We practically own Hyperion!" Jack said triumphantly

"What about Mr. Tassitier? He wouldn't dare cash out his stock with Hypeiron. He's been loyal to the corporation for over 30 years!" Axton said

"True, he didn't," Jack said "But I dealt with him...accordingly,"

_'Which means that I killed Mr. Tassitier_' Axton thought to himself gritting his teeth at Jacks utter arrogance.

"If I may sir," Mr. Blake said walking into the room "We best get back to headquarters, I'm afraid overexposure to these pumps could lead to...well...harmful side effects."

"Like what?" Axton asked

"Were not entirely sure yet sir," Blake said "But it did cause skin breakouts and burns on the foreman."

"Alright, lets get outta here," Jack said to Axton before leaving the room with Mr. Blake. Axton took one look at the machine then followed the two out of the facility.

-1 YEAR LATER-

Axton was still in his tuxedo while he was being brutally beaten by Hyperion officials and people loyal to Jack, including Wilhelm who had all of his limbs during this time.

"I can't believe you would do something like that," Jack said walking into the room with his hand behind his back.

Axton was being restrained by two other officials when he was getting bludgeoned by people he worked with. They were standing what seemed like a parking garage that had liquid nitrogen canisters that powered the cars. Axton now reckoned he had 4 cracked ribs, along with a crushed pelvis from when Wilhelm stomped on it from the side, and a lot of bruises and cuts from getting bludgeoned by Jack's loyal men.

"You would give out info to some godforsaken place to try and take me down?!" Jack said

"He will pay for this..." Blake said holding an assault rifle.

"Can't you see it for yourself John?" Axton coughed "You are willing to kill over 90,000 people just to try and ensure you're the richest man in the galaxy?"

"Yep." Jack said smiling " Well, technically I'm looking for a Siren so I can blow her brains out. Shes hiding in this city. And I'm not letting you get in the way of this."

Jack then walked closer to Axton then asked him

"So is this where the line is cut?"

"Apparently so.." Axton said glaring at Jack.

Jack laughed at Axton then said to him.

"Axton, nothing can stop this from happening, today I finally seal my dominance over the frigging galaxy with this last act of valor...not even you," Jack said pulling out the strange looking pistol from his holster and aimed it at his chest.

"Somebody will stop you John..." Axton muttered

"Please..It's Jack...Handsome Jack," Jack said pulling the trigger

A purple dart shot into Axton's chest and stuck out about 4 inches, causing him to give off a small gag. The needle was about an inch thick and was glowing purple. Axton went into shock. He never felt pain this immense in his entire life, it felt like his insides were on fire, Axton got shot while in the military service, but nothing came close to the amount of pain he was feeling right now. The two guards let go of Axton and he collapsed on the floor. His gun fell out his back pocket, so he tried to crawl over and grab it, but only to have it kicked away nonchalantly by Jack. He kneeled down to Axton and said to him.

"E-Tech, how do you like it?" Jack said moving it around.

"It runs off the Eridium refined from the shithole known as Pandora and can leave bullet wounds without a bullet, but its twice as effective and twice as lethal. I reckon you got about an hour or so before the Eridium goes into your bloodstream and collapses your heart. Pretty neat huh?" Jack said to Axton musing about the gun.

Axton coughed up some of his blood before muttering to Jack.

"...Fuck...You..."

Jack laughed silently and said to him before standing up

"I'm afraid you're in no disposition to do so,"

Jack kicked him square in the face to teach him somewhat of a lesson, but that wasn't enough. when Jack was about to walk to the elevator and turned around to Axton and said.

"I gave you the chance to join me, but you just had to throw it in the dirt...You dissapoint me Axton"

"I don't side with murderers of innocent people," Axton said still on the floor clenching his chest in pain.

"Whatever.." Jack said rolling his eyes. "Come on fellas, we got history to make."

Jack then walked up to Wilhelm and said to him

"Wilhelm, take care of him,"

'Yes sir," Wilhelm said slightly bowing his head,

"I'm off to make trillions Axton, ciao!" Jack said waving his hands before closing the elevator.

Wilhelm walked slowly to Axton with a crowbar in his hand, "You just had to fuck it up didn't you?" Wilhelm said whacking him in the face with the crowbar.

"You could've been one of us for good," He then said whacking him again.

"Now I'm gonna have to kill ya, pretty boy," Wilhelm said

"I don't think so," Axton said pulling out the gun he had in his back pocket, aiming at the liquid nitrogen canister on the nearest car and firing.

Liquid nitrogen exploded all over Wilhelm, covering his each of his limbs with the subzero compound, causing him to scream in pain as his limbs became number by the second. Axton mustered what little strength he had to stand up, pick up the crowbar that Wilhelm used to beat Axton senselessly with, and with all his might, he took a low swing at Wilhelms legs, completely shattering them into pieces as if they were glass. Wilhelm hit the ground so hard that it shattered his arms as well, leaving him as a frozen stump on the concrete.

"It pays to have a spare," Axton panted and coughed.

He then realized that he had no time to gloat over his victory with the brute and that he had to hurry in order to stop Jack (or attempt). He limped over to the nearest elevator and pressed the 'Street Level' button on the elevator. The sliding doors closed and Axton waited for about 20 seconds while the elevator was ascending, clutching the dart trying to pull it out to no avail, because the slightest movement of it caused an immense pain in his chest. After 20 seconds the elevator intercom switched on and said

"Now entering: Streets of Mombusha city, enjoy your stay!" Then the aluminum alloy doors slowly slid open.

* * *

Death.

It was all Axton could see. Hundreds of bodies that included innocent men and women were gunned down by the might of Hyperion. Axton loaded up his pistol and began to run towards the gunfire that was held a couple blocks down. Axton couldn't help but stumble around and cough up some blood. After the 5th cough, he began to realize that he was coughing up purple stuff along with his blood. He remembered what Jack told him about the E tech guns and how the dart slowly travels into your bloodstream. When he was thinking about that he heard a slight yelp then heard a very familiar voice say.

"What's this? A Siren caught off her guard?"

Axton saw from the corner of his eyes Mr. Blake pointing his assault rifle at a blue-haired woman, with strange markings on her left arm.

"A Siren..." Axton said calmly,

"Just close your eyes dear, this won't hurt, I promise," Mr. Blake said aiming his gun at her face.

"I don't think so Blake..." Axton said aiming his gun and pulling the trigger.

A perfect shot, right in the temple, Mr. Blake was shot and killed by a former Hyperion Executive, Axton.

The blue-haired woman looked at Axton for a bit. She couldn't figure out who it was because his face was covered by shadow, the distinctive thing about him was the large protruding needle that emitted a purplish glow, other than that, he was completely indescribable. Axton looked at the woman for a few seconds then began to ran towards the crowd, now that he provided the Siren with a window to escape from.

Axton stumbled around town until he could finally see Jack from a distance, he paused for a minute then mutter under his breath.

"Jack..."

He took aim with his pistol, about to fire at Jack, but the pain from the needle was too immense and he dropped his gun and collapsed on the ground, convulsing from the pain of the needle. He lifted up the sleeve of his tuxedo to see that his blood vessels were glowing a faint purple. Is this where he dies? After all the work, blood, and sweat Axton put to this job, would come to such an abrupt end because of that tyrant who desired power among all else.

Axton then heard gunshots, fired in bursts to be exact, then saw a few Dahl soldiers storm in to try and stop the massacre from happening, they were too late.

"Dammit!" One of the woman said, she then looked around to find Axton lying on the ground barely breathing.

"Ah hell, We got a live one over here!" She yelled running over at Axton.

"Officer Booth! Help me out, we gotta get him outta here!" She then said

Then another officer ran to him along with two other Dahl soldiers. They then hoisted him up from the ground and carried him to a humvee where they provided immediate medical attention, giving him an antidote for the emulsion sickness he got from the needle, then finally getting it pulled out and sterilized the giant wound in his chest.

"You're lucky to be alive friend," The woman said taking off her helmet, she was definitely a looker this one.

"I guess so.." Axton said breathing through the oxygen mask he was given.

"What's your name?" The woman asked him.

"Axton..And yours?" Axton asked

"Sarah..."

* * *

Axton was taken to the Dahl headquarters where he was questioned by the officials on the incident. He told them that he formerly worked for Hyperion and that Jack is planning to take down all the Sirens so he can dominate the galaxy, The reason he gunned down all those people was to find a Siren.

"Well you took a helluva beating son," The official said "The fact that you're still alive, is well, astonishing to say the least."

"I don't die so easily," Axton said now wearing a white t shirt with combat pants and boots. He tried to address him as properly as he could, but he felt like shit at this point. He just wanted to eat something, then fall asleep for a few days.

"Well it seems like you've been through the shit son." The official said to Axton looking at some papers.

_'Asswipe_' Axton said to himself with his arms crossed. 'Being though the shit' was an understatement of what he had to go through in his past years of working for Hyperion. Seeing a city nuked, and watching someone gun down 600 people was to name only a few off the top of his head.

"Yeah well we could use somebody like you." The official said. "How would you like to join the Dahl military and help fight the Hyperion corporation?"

Axton looked around the room, looked at Sarah who was standing near the corner, then looked back at the official and said quietly.

"...Alright..."

* * *

**AN: Hey guys! Thanks for all the awesome comments you guys been giving me, it's you guys who motivate me to keep on producing new chapters! I don't mean to sound like a doucher or anything but please spread the word about this fanfic! I would really appreciate it and it would help get an even greater chance to get more reviews and improve on future chapters! Thanks for reading!**

**-LT**


	11. Chapter 10: What Makes a Good Man?

Chapter 10

"End of Transmission." The ECHO computer said before ejecting the memory chip Axton put into the computer in the first place. he grabbed the chip and put it into his front pocket and looked around the room to see faces full of shock and disbelief, especially from Maya.

"A city destroyed...a street gunned down...just to find me?" Maya said quietly to herself.

Axton then turned to her and said

"Maya...it's not like that.. there was nothing you could do."

Mordecai looked down on the ground for a second then said quietly.

"You've been working with Hyperion?" Mordecai said

"...Yeah, I was.." Axton said with a hint of guilt in his voice.

Axton heard a little click go off next to his right ear, he moved his head slightly to see that Mordecai was holding a pistol up to his temple.

"What makes me think I can trust you now?" Mordecai said angrily

"Hey come on, Amigo. Axton would never betray us!" Salvador said putting his hands in front of him trying to cool Mordecai down.

"How can I know for sure?" Mordecai yelled "You can be mostly to blame for this mess! My companion that I had for life is now dead, along with the only man I could truly trust, and now my friend is captured!"

Axton then widened his eyes then turned to Mordecai

"I'VE LOST OVER 90,000 PEOPLE IN THE BLINK OF THE FUCKING EYE, ALONG WITH ANOTHER 600 PEOPLE! SOMETHING THAT I COULD HAVE EASILY PREVENTED IF I ONLY ACTED UPON IT! DON'T TRY AND JUSTIFY THIS AND ACT LIKE YOU WERE THE ONLY ONE WHO LOST ANYTHING IN THIS WHOLE MESS!" Axton yelled at Mordecai, now completely furious that Mordecai could make a statement like that.

"Good evening shitbrains of Sanctuary," A frustrated voice said from the ECHO "I would like to inform everyone that my daughter has been murdered by the savages that dwell in that godforsaken town of yours!"

"Jack..." Axton said quietly looking at the Echo computer.  
"Oh, and Axton, you probably explained to them how you worked for Hyperion, so that can constitute at Mind Blow #2, being Angel working for me Mind Blow #1, so get ready for Mind Blow #3!" Jack said through the ECHO

"No..." Axton said quietly, almost as if it were a whisper.

"Attention people of Sanctuary! I'm making a few changes to the bounty boards, one in particular. I will reward you 800 Billion dollars...Eight...Hundred... if you turn in my little baby brother..."

"Oh God no..." Axton said

**"Axton the Commando."**

Axton's face turned completely white at this moment and was frozen.

"I trust the citizens will do the right thing about this... You're glorious and pissed off leader Handsome Jack out."

*BEEP* The ECHO was shut off, to leave everyone in the room dumbfounded and shock to say the very least before Maya had the strength to look at Axton and say quietly.

"Axton...Is that true?" Maya asked hoping Handsome Jack was just pulling every bodies leg.

Axton stool still for about 4 seconds, before breathing heavily and saying to Maya quietly.

"...Yeah...It is"

Maya couldn't believe it, was this a nightmare she was having? The man who constantly fought along side her through thick and thin was not only a former employee of the oppressive company known as Hyperion, but was Handsome Jack's younger brother. She didn't want to accept that, she always perceived Axton as the sanest person alive on this planet, who truly understood the things that went on with her. She could even grow to like the man, more than a close friend. Why did this have to happen now?

Maya quickly ran out of the room, much to Axton's disliking by saying

"Maya wait!" But she didn't listen, she just wanted to be alone for a while.

"Goddamnit.." Axton muttered then proceeding to run after the Siren, leaving the five other vault hunters scratching their heads in wonder and disbelief.

* * *

Axton found Maya sitting on the edge of Sanctuary with her arms wrapped around her legs, so she was curled up overlooking the horizon.

"Figured I find you here.." Axton said.

"Leave me alone..." Maya muttered quietly not looking back at Axton, continuing to gaze upon the horizon.

"Look Maya," Axton said walking closer "I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier, I didn't want you to worry.."

Maya glared back at Axton then stood up and said to him

"Didn't want me to worry? That's your excuse!?" She said gradually raising her voice

"Maya..I" Axton tried to explain only to be interrupted.

"Goddammit what is your problem Axton?!' She yelled at him "You didn't want to tell me that you're older brother is responsible for nuking an entire city and gunned down 600 people just to find me?!"

"That wasn't your fault Maya!" Axton said tried to defend himself

"YES IT WAS!" Maya nearly screamed "YOU DIDN'T EVEN TELL ME ABOUT THAT FUCKING STUFFED ANIMAL THAT'S CONSTANTLY KEEPING YOU UP ALL NIGHT LONG!"

Axton was in shock. This was the first time he has ever seen Maya this angry. She always seemed to keep her cool amongst the group, but in this situation, it was excusable. The thing that shocked Axton was that she knew he barely gets any sleep during the night.

"W-What?" Axton said still stiff

"OH DON'T ACT LIKE THAT DOESN'T HAPPEN BECAUSE IT DOES! I ALWAYS HEAR YOU SHOUTING AND PANTING UPSTAIRS AND SAYING SOME NAME! SO AM I GOING TO GET SOME REAL ANSWERS OR WHAT?!" Maya yelled moving closer to Axton.

Axton pause for a minute then said

"Siren's can see in other people's pasts right?" Axton asked

Maya began to slowly calm herself and look at Axton confused and ask

"Yeah...How did you know?"

"I did a bit of research," Axton said "If you can look into others people's memories, then look into mine, then you'll find your answers."

Maya let out a sigh then said

"Alright, but I've never done this before,"

Maya then took both of her hands and placed it over Axton's head. She closed her eyes and her tattooed arm began to illuminate as she tried to amplify the memory Axton was talking about, until it became clear in her thoughts as well.

-1 YEAR AGO-

"Axton! What in the hell were you thinking?" Sarah said scolding her husband

"Sarah, I..." Axton tried to say but then cut off by her again.

"You would disobey direct orders to try and chase after some godforsaken person! You're very lucky you're not executed at this very moment!"

"Sarah," Axton began "I joined the Dahl military so that I could fight off against Hyperion, not defend worthless garrison points that didn't even benefit us!"

"Who were you chasing after anyways?" Sarah said to Axton

"It was...someone that I needed to finish off," Axton said quietly

"Well then tell me!" Sarah said

"No way!" Axton said walking away

"Fine!" Sarah said walking upstairs

Axton went into the dining room and sat on a chair pinching his temples together. He wanted to tell Sarah the truth, but he didn't want to risk her safety as well as another. He then heard a childish voice from behind him say to him,

"Daddy? Why are you and mommy fighting?" The little boy asked slightly worried

Axton let out a heavy sigh and said to him

"No, Nathan. Mommy and I weren't fighting. We were just...talking.."

Nathan asked him "Is it about me?"

"Of course not buddy! Mommy and I love each other, and we love you too, okay?" Axton said smiling at him. Before Nathan could say anything. Axton said to him.

"Hey Nathan! I got you something," He said before walking to the cabinet and pulling something out.

"Remember when I took you to the zoo and you stayed at that one giraffe exhibit for hours and didn't want to leave?" Axton asked

"Yeah..." Nathan said quietly

"Well I got you this." Axton said before pulling out a little stuffed giraffe and handing it to Nathan, which brightened up his look by a lot.

"Wow!" Nathan said grabbing the stuffed Giraffe "Thank you Daddy!"

"You're welcome Nathan!" Axton said "So who's my best buddy in the whole wide world!?"

"Me!" Nathan said laughing followed by Axton saying to him "You bet!'

"Spacecraft 1 Come in! We have lift-off!" he said before grabbing Nathan and tossing him in the air and catching him, prompting laughter between them. Sarah walked in to see them playing together, which caused a smile on her face too. Sarah knew she made the right choice in saving him from Athenas.

-3 MONTHS LATER-

"Axton.." Sarah said "The rest of the battalion ships out tomorrow and I don't want you coming with us, not as a soldier, and not as a husband..."

"What?!" Axton said "What the hell Sarah?"

"You have disobeyed enough commands to get executed 10 times, you alone can't take down Hyperion.." Sarah explained

"There's a reason for that..." Axton said quietly

"Which you refuse to tell me..." Sarah retorted "I'm sorry, but the Dahl military has had enough and they're calling the firing squad on you."

"...So now what?" Axton said "You gonna turn me over to the firing squad? Unless they changed the rules, I'm pretty sure 'Semper Fidelis' means 'Forever'!"

"You are correct...At 0900 tomorrow the MPs will escort you to the brink where you'll await your execution. As your CO I can't formally suggest you going AWOL and trying your luck elsewhere." Sarah explained letting out a sigh.

"Too bad.." Axton said tilting his head slightly down "Would've been good advice..What's this?"

"My wedding ring," Sarah said to Axton handing him the ring "You can keep it, I never really like diamonds.."

"Ouch..." Axton said clenching the ring in his hands and closing his eyes.

"Daddy?" He heard a voice say from behind Sarah

"Nathan," Axton said kneeling down to his level "I gotta go away for a while.."

"When will you come back?" Nathan asked holding the stuffed giraffe

Axton paused for a minute, remembering what he told Angel a while back, how he lied about her mother ever coming back. He looked back at Nathan and said.

"I don't know buddy.." Axton finally said. Tears began to come out of Nathan's eyes,

"Hey come on buddy, I'll be back to see you again... I promise." Axton said "Be good okay?"

"Okay..." Nathan said before hugging his father tightly, Axton didn't want to leave his almost four-year old son behind. He didn't even know if he was going to see him again. Axton's eyes began to slightly water up after realizing this. He then pulled away and stood up, gave Sarah a final kiss on the lips and then walked out of the door.

"Why did Daddy have to go Mommy?" Nathan asked sniffling a bit. Sarah kneeled down to Nathan's level.

"Because he had to sweetie," Sarah said hugging her own child, she didn't want to tell Axton to take a hike. She knew Axton loved his son with all his heart, but deep down she knew she had to do it.

-1 MONTH LATER-

Axton was sitting at a bar in Eden-6, It was a place where Dahl had no jurisdiction over, so he felt slightly safer here.

_'Happy Birthday, Nathan...'_ Axton thought to himself before taking another shot of whiskey. In his opinion, it was pretty fucked up that he couldn't be there to see his four-year olds son blow out the candles on his cake after singing 'Happy Birthday' to him. He then heard faint chatter on the radio saying

"Hyperion...Dahl...Officers...Killed...,"

"Wait, turn that up for me," Axton said to the bartender and pointed to the radio, which the man did.

"Hyperion corporation has yet again launched another assault on a major corporation. This time, It was the Dahl military under fire, thousand of Dahl officers were assassinated to try and supposedly diminish the forces of the Dahl military."

Axton went into shock and quietly said to himself "...Sarah.." then putting money on the table and running out of the bar, to try and catch the next ship to Hieronymus, where he once lived.

It was about a 4 hour flight to Hieronymus and during the entire flight he was looking at the two wedding rings he kept around his neck, praying that both Sarah and Nathan were alive and well.  
As soon as the ship landed, he ran out of the vessel, and sprinted to the house he once lived in (His house in the barracks was only a 4 minute drive from the ship station. When he got to the house it was about 10 o'clock on a stormy night, so it was pitch black all around him. He saw that the neighborhood was suspiciously quiet, no lights or commotion between the houses. He didn't like it one bit. He ran to the house and kicked down the front door.

"SARAH?! NATHAN?!" He yelled to try and see if he could get a response, he checked the kitchen, dining room, living room, they were nowhere to be found.

He then ran upstairs and checked the master bedroom , they weren't there, until finally, he looked into Nathan's room.

Axton collapsed on the floor with tears in his eyes looking at the sight of his dead ex-wife and son, next to each other, with a small pool of blood surrounding them. Axton kneeled down and was freely crying to himself while clutching and cradling the two lifeless bodies of the people he cared most about. Thunder claps and lightning flashes were seen from the window. He didn't want any of this to happen, none of it. He wanted to be able to be there and sing 'Happy Birthday' and help his son blow out the candles, eat cake, and have an amazing time. He wanted to take Sarah on those walks down the park like they always did and they would sit on the couch together relaxing next to the cozy fire pit. This wouldn't be able to happen again. Sarah, the love of his life, and Nathan, the boy that meant the world to him. Gone. Forever.

It was still storming outside when Axton buried both of the bodies in the backyard. He didn't care about the storm or any of that for the matter. As soon as he put that last clump of dirt, he placed his head on the mound and weeped even more over the loss of of both of his family members. He knew that Jack himself would have killed them. He just knew it. He slowly lifted his face from the dirt and said to himself

"I'm going to find you and kill you Jack...I swear on my own life.."

He then head sirens from the distance along with blue and red flashing lights. If he is seen burying his two family members and he was reportedly missing in action, he wouldn't be able to get revenge on Jack for what he's done. He quickly ran away from the mound and escaped from the barracks to fly out of Hieronymus, to never return again.

For next two months he lived in a little shack on the planet of Eden-5 (he figured Jack would look in Eden-6 first of him). Axton can't remember the last time he ate nor slept ( AN: Think of the "Roguish Renegade" head without the goggles to picture how he looks). He kept drinking straight from the bottle of whiskey to try and drown his sorrows away, to no avail. Every time he lifted up his necklace to his face, he would begin to silently weep to himself. He thought of it as a totem to his greatest failure, as both a husband and a father. He always had a little radio that kept him slightly informed on what was going on in the world, which quite frankly, he didn't give a shit at this point in time. But in this instance, it was different.

"Attention all fortune seekers!" A familiar voice said from the radio "Would you like to seek fame, fortune, and have a chance to meet with me? Handsome Jack?"

Axton jerked his head upright when he heard that and then listened closer to the radio.

"Then head on over to the planet of Pandora and look for the legendary and Mysterious Vault! Riches await you in this glorious place! So come on board! Handsome Jack's countin on you!"

Axton gritted his teeth together and began to build up his rage even more, he sprang up from his chair and walked over to the mirror, picked up the razor and shaved off his beard, until he looked like his regular self again. He was about to take off the rank that was stamped on his forehead to signify he was a Staff Sergeant, but then had second thoughts and put his hand down. He decided to keep it as a memento of his failure along with his ring, to never be able to forgive himself for what he's done.

_'This is it Jack.._' Axton thought to himself _'I'm coming for you...'_

-PRESENT TIME-

Maya slowly lifted her hands from Axton's head. When she opened her eyes, tears began to flow from her face. She had no idea that he had to see his own wife and son murdered and there was nothing he could have possibly done to prevent it. No man should ever bury their child. Axton was right, she shouldn't have asked questions she didn't want the answer to. Now that she finally got her explanation about the stuffed animal, she wished she never even asked about it. Axton opened his eyes to see Maya's extremely saddened look upon her face with tears coming from them. He didn't realize it himself, but his eyes began to water up as well.

"It's..It's not your fault..." Axton tried to explain only to have Maya lunge into his arms, burying her face in his shoulder, sobbing freely about the true tragedy Axton had to go through. Axton wrapped his arms around Maya's back as tight as he could while stoking her hair. He didn't want to let go of her, he just wanted to hold her close.

"It's okay Maya..." Axton said quietly "Shhh..It's not your fault...It's not your fault" He kept on saying that to her to try and calm her down, so she would stop crying on his shoulder, he felt the left side of his shoulder was nearly soaked in tears.

"You didn't do anything...I'm so sorry Maya..." Axton said softly

Finally after ten minutes of an embrace, they finally pulled apart. Axton gazed upon the saddened woman with tears that soaked her face.

_'Goddammit'_ Axton thought _'Why'd I have to go and make another girl cry?_'

"Lemme see your Echo," Axton said

Maya handed Axton her Echo, Axton then took a little paper-clip, opened up the interface, grabbed a little light from his back pocket at placed it inside of the Echo. He used the paper clip to act as a little antennae for a certain frequency. He did the same for his device as well.

"If you ever need me in any way," Axton explained "Press this button, And I'll come and help you. I'm not losing you like I did with Nathan."

"Okay..." Maya said softly

"Lets head back to base..." Axton said "They're probably wondering where we went,"

Back at the base, only Salvador and Zer0 were seen, prompting Axton to ask them.

"Where is everybody?"

"Welp," Salvador said "Brick had some stuff to take care of in Thousand Cuts and Mordecai had to go blow off some steam. Nothing you could've done Amigo. Where'd you go?"

Axton paused then said to Salvador

"I just talked to Maya that's all. We better get some rest, I'm edging to kill Jack."

"Alright then Amigo." Salvador said plopping down on his bed and falling asleep. Zer0 walked over to his corner and fell asleep as well.

* * *

Maya was wondering why Tannis wasn't in her room at the time being, until she discovered a note scrawled on a piece of metal written with fingernails that said:

"Went exploring, I mean, studying. Won't be back till tomorrow, make sure Fellipe goes to bed. -Patricia Tannis"

She then laid down on her bed and stared at the ECHO device Axton modified for her. She felt like such a bitch at this point. How could she be so inconsiderate? She always thought she was the one who truly lost something. She couldn't believe what Axton had to go through all this time. Lilith may have lost her once love of her life, but to lose your actual wife and your own son in one instance? It's no wonder Axton usually keeps to himself when the stuffed animal was brought up. The giraffe belonged to his little boy Nathan. How Jack got a hold of it, she had no clue. She began to run her left hand down her leg slowly before lifting it up where the leg met the hip. She then pulled out the ECHO and began to press on that button Axton installed, causing a flashing light to appear. She heard loud footsteps come down from upstairs and heard the door open to see Axton holding his ECHO, he looked at Maya and asked her worried.

"What is it? What do you need?"

Maya then stood up from her bed and walked up to Axton. She stared at Axton before putting her hands behind his head and pressing her lips against his, holding it for about 7 seconds until Axton pulled her away.

Axton looked into Maya's hazel eyes for a few seconds, then pulling her back in to kiss her. Axton has been needing this for so long. Maya led Axton onto the bed when it got even more heated up. Maya wanted this as bad as Axton did. She's been edging for the chance to truly express Axton how she felt about him, and vice versa. Axton began kissing down Maya's neck, which caused her to slightly moan in enjoyment before coming back up to kiss her beautiful lips once again. It was truly something that they've been meaning to do since they've been through all of the mishaps and what not. Shirts and Pants began to slowly come off. Both of their bodies were filled with butterflies in their stomach. Axton could've sworn he heard a couple of fireworks go off in his head. Handsome Jack was an oppressive and horrible man who needed to die, but this night was devoted between the two sweaty partners on the bed. Axton truly had no way to move on from his tragedy, until he met this particular Siren. The world began to melt before them as they felt they were the only two individuals in the universe. It was their night, and they wanted it to last.

* * *

**AN: Hey Guys! Sorry for the delay! Halo 4 and other things really ate up my time. Longest Chapter yet and I believe it's the best one I wrote so far. Thanks for your continued support and please spread the word about this! More reviews means better chapters! Laters!**

**-LT  
**


	12. Chapter 11: Welcome to the Family

Chapter 11

Axton couldn't believe it, for once in the past 2 years, he's been able to get a full night's rest. No voices in his head, no nightmares, nothing. Just a beautiful woman lying next him which was fast asleep at this point. Axton could look at Maya sleep forever, just wondering what she was dreaming about. Him perhaps? Sarah would've wanted him to move on, it wasn't her fault, none of this was, it was his. Axton took his hand and moved a strand of her blue hair away from her face. Axton then took his arm and pulled Maya closer to him, hell he wanted this to last as long as he could. Maya let out a little sigh, but settled down after figuring out Axton just wanted her closer. The man who rocked her world properly was holding her close in his large defined body. What more could a girl ask for?

What exactly happened last night? It was a mix between anguish, comfort, and overall expression of feelings, rolled into one sweaty night. It seemed like a blur between the two. If only they could've remembered what happened between them. Heat of the moment?

_'Fuck that'_ Axton thought to himself before falling asleep again.

* * *

About an hour passed before Axton opened his eyes again, to see Maya was still close to him. He stroked her face once more, then finally kissing her forehead. She let off a slight grin and fluttered her eyes slowly to see the man who she expressed her true feelings for, something she has never been able to do in her entire lifetime, after all, he DID save her from Mombusha.

"Hey..." Axton said softly to the woman who recently awoke.

"Hey..." Maya said back to him quietly "So how'd you sleep handsome?"

"Jesus..." Axton thought taking a deep breath "It's been a while..."

"No more nightmares?" Maya asked him

"None." Axton said letting off a smile.

"Great.." Maya said before kissing his nose and sitting up from the bed, putting on her attire that was viciously torn off from last nights...well...episode, she thanked God that there were no tears in her clothing.

"To tell you the truth," Maya said "I've never been able to get that much sleep on this planet either. Maybe that's normal, something I'll have to get used to for the moment."

"Probably," Axton said rubbing his eyes and standing up, putting his pants on and getting up from the bed. Screw working out today, it'll have to wait when he doesn't feel amazing.

Axton then saw Maya pull out a small bag from a drawer in her cabinet. Axton let out a groan and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"The fate of Pandora rests in our hands and you're worried about not having makeup on?" Axton asked trivially to Maya, why did she need do this now?

"Axton," Maya began turning around putting on some lip gloss, the same stuff that smeared his neck, chest lips, and cheeks. "Ask any girl out there and they'll tell you. No matter what, it's important to keep up, well.." She smacked her lips "Appearances."

Axton scoffed at this and finally found his shirt crumpled up on the ground. He wiped off the gloss that smeared his body and fixed up his hair a bit.

"Lemme tell you something Axton," Maya said walking up to Axton "You, were, _incredible_ last night." She stressed incredible.

Axton let off a small smirk and lightly laughed to himself before saying to her.

"Yeah, likewise. Jesus, I hope we didn't wake up anybody.." Axton could remember the downright shrieking Maya gave off during all of the intimacy together. It was something about Maya's voice that turned Axton on incredibly, and to hear those shrieks of pure pleasure, he couldn't have asked for more. The only thing that would make it better is if he had a personal robot that dispensed him free joints and liquor at his own command.

"'M headin' upstairs," Axton said with his still disheveled hair.

"Alright, see you in a bit handsome," Maya

_'Jeez, first Lilith gives me these weird nicknames, and now Maya's calling me 'handsome'?'_ Axton thought to himself, but he didn't mind one bit. He then remembered Lilith, how they needed to get her back, and fast. Angel may have died for a good cause, but Jack managed to get a hold of the most powerful Siren on the planet, city-lifter Lilith. This is bad. He then wondered if she should show him his Hyperion recordings, about how he inadvertently saved their lives twice.

Axton walked to to the upper deck and slumped on the nearest table, letting out a sigh, causing Salvador to have a huge grin on his face.

"Oooh hoo hoo hoo," Salvador said slyly "Look what the gato dragged in last night," He then let off a small laugh to himself.

_'Goddamnit'_ Axton thought putting his palm on his forehead _'He knows...'_

Axton then slowly made his way over to the chair and plopped himself down to take a seat. He ran his hand through his own hair then let out a heavy sigh before turning his head slowly to face Salvador and asking him.

"Hey...What's happenin in the CLEAN world?"

"Welp." Salvador said walking over to Axton "Mordecai picked up some intel about a Hyperion info blockade that we gotta take down if we ever hope to get Lilith back,"

"Yeah," Mordecai said walking to Salvador "And Axton? About last night... I didn't mean to flip my shit and all. I know now you'd never betray us, after all the shit Jack's put you through, anybody would be out for his blood, so Sorry."

"No, Mordecai it's fine." Axton said standing up, patting Mordecai's back "Trust me, If I figured out the man I worked was part of an oppressive corporation, I would've had my suspicions."

"Don't' worry," He continued "We'll get Lilith back. We can't let Roland down."

Mordecai laughed a bit to himself. He seriously thought that the man who saved Roland's life 7 years ago and eventually their own would backstab all of them. He must've been really pissed off yesterday.

* * *

Maya finalized putting on her makeup and closed the box. She began to look at her at several different angles to make sure that she got every aspect down correctly. She then heard a faint knock on the front door.

_'It's probably Tannis'_ She thought to herself _'Back from some quest for the 'Holy Nachos' or something'_

She walked over to the door to see that she was completely wrong. In front of her stood a teenage girl, looking like she was barely 18 or 19 years old. She had red hair that was tied up into two disheveled pigtails on each side. She looked like something out a punk rock band, with all of the clothes torn from left and right (intentionally), wearing grunge shoes and a skull t-shirt with a short skirt to match that. But the most definable feature about her was the lack of a flesh-and-blood left arm. Instead it was a cybernetic prosthetic arm that was shaped as a real one, except this one had claw like fingers on it. They both played a staring game for a while before Maya asked her,

"Uhhh, can I help you?"

The girl snapped out of her trance, blinking rapidly before looking at Maya.

"Oh! Uh...Hi...Uh..." She said stuttering "Is this where the uhhh," She then pulled out a little PDA and squinted at the text that showed up on the screen and said slowly.

"Crrrrimmmsonnnn-" She tried to say before being interrupted by Maya

"Crimson Raiders?" Maya asked the girl trivially

"Oh Yeah Right! Cool! So...uhhhhh...I just moved here...so...I have no idea what's going on...And I figured I should come here and see a dude named 'Roland', is he around?" she said looking on both sides of Maya to see if the man was anywhere in sight.

"Well, I hate to tell ya," Maya said letting out a sigh "Roland's dead, a man named Mordecai is the new head of the Raiders"

"Oh..." The girl said looking down on the ground "Isss there anyone else I can talk to?" Asking Maya raising the pitch of her voice.

"Maya!" Axton said walking down the stairs wiping his face "Who's at the door? Is it Tannis?" Axton looked to see that is was a teenage girl.

"Oh, Hello." Axton said waving his hand at the girl.

The girl blushed a bit and stuttered out "Hi...uhmmm...Hi..."

Maya looked at the girl and asked her "What's your name?"

"Gaige," She responded. "What about you?"

"I'm Maya. That's Axton," She said pointing to the Commando who was washing his face. "Come on in, we need all the help we can get. But first, don't mind me asking but, how'd you get that?" Maya said pointing to Gaige's cybernetic arm.

"Oh this?" Gaige said holding out her arm and looking at it. She scoffed at said "It's a really long story. Like, REALLY long" She said holding out her arms and extending them to build up a picture how long the story was.

"Well," Axton said "Welcome to the Crimson Raiders." He then extended out his arm, which Gaige grabbed and shook it.

"Uhhh.. Thanks" She said bashfully

"We better show you around," Maya said leading her upstairs.

Gaige was greeted by Salvador, Zer0 with open Handshakes and bows of honour.

"Nice to have more people," Mordecai said walking up to Gaige "Names Mordecai,"

"Gaige.." She said holding out her cybernetic hand for him to shake, which he did. He stared at the arm before telling her,

"Wow, now that is cool." he said pointing to the prosthetic.

"Well, thanks..." Gaige said bringing her arm back.

"Names Brick, or known by most people as the 'Slab King'," Brick said walking up to Gaige.

Initially, Gaige was utterly terrified of Brick (which was normal). She stared at his Giant stature with widened eyes and a slightly open mouth, which cause Brick to chuckle and say to her,

"No need to worry, little girl, I ain't gonna hurt ya." Waving his hand.

"Oh...Good," Gaige said sighing in relief.

"So what brings a person like you to Pandora eh?" Salvador asked

"Oh..Well...Uh I kinda got in a little accident on my home planet." Gaige said trailing off

"Like what?" Axton asked cocking an eyebrow.

"Well, I entered in an anti-bullying apparatus that would immediately deal with kids who picked on minorities," She explained "Then my bitch-of-a-classmate Marcie decided to rip-off my invention and enter the science fair." She clenched her fists when she said 'Marcie'

"And waddya know? She wins. Because shes just a spoiled, rotten, no good, two timing, heartless bitch!" Gaige said getting angrier

"Whoa whoa!" Mordecai said holding his hands out "Cool your jets there hotshot, were all friends here."

Gaige took a deep breath and went on.

"I ended up only getting 3rd place in the science fair, 3rd! And guess what? Marcie decides to rub it in my face and push me around. My science fair project detected it as 'bullying' so it acted. It grabbed her throat, placed tannerite in her system with a charge and activated it and she, well, blew up..." She finalized

"Damn!" Brick said laughing "I like this girl already!"

"So I got sent into the principal's office where he tells me I'm expelled for a year and that I could be arrested for second-degree murder!" She said

"So my Dad buys me ticket to a place where they wouldn't find me...here." Gaige said finishing off her story before taking another breath.

"Well," Axton said standing up "Sounds like you had a helluva ride! You wouldn't happen to have this, 'project' would you?"

Gaige scoffed and said to Axton "Of course I do!"

Gaige the pressed a button on her arm which digi structed a floating robot that could be described in one word as 'Death'. It was painted black and had a blade as an arm. How this thing didn't win 1st prize is beyond Axton.

"I call it 'D34TH TR4P'." Gaige said boasting about her built robot.

"Wow." Axton said admiring the construction "You are just full of surprises aren't you?"

Gaige laughed and said to Axton "Yeah, I guess so."

"Well I guess I'll show ya where you'll be staying," Maya explained.

Maya led Gaige to the downstairs and showed her a bed that was next to all of the washing machines that Tannis kept for no explanatory reason whatsoever.

"Well," Maya said letting out a sigh "Welcome home, don't worry, Pandora'll grow to you, in time." She then walked away to let Gaige settle herself in. She layed on her new bed and pulled out a PDA and began typing in the journal section.

_Hey Journal,_

_Sorry it's been awhile I've just been busy running away from the cops and what not._

_So I've finally made it to Pandora, this place smells like Hemorrhoids wrapped in bacon..._

_The Crimson Raiders were hospitable enough to let me stay with them, they're pretty nice people overall. There's this girl named Maya, with awesome tattoos on her left shoulder, I can TOTALLY tell we'll be like BFF's or something. Theres this ninja dude who calls himself 'Zer0'. Move over Luke, there's a new badass in town! There's a little guy named Salvador, who looked really funny, but I didn't want to say anything, after all, they are nice enough to let me stay with them, and plus he looked strong, God's way for compensating I guess. Then there's Mordecai, ughh, I could smell the booze on him from a mile away. Drinking his sorrows away? IDK. There's this guy named Brick, Jesus, he's scary. It's like he got in a wrestling match with fourteen bears and the bears lost! But he seems nice to his friends so that's cool. Then there's Axton, he's SUPER dreamy, but I think he's been taken already... Oh well, there's bound to be more fish in the sea or something. Well I've been on Pandora for 7 hours now, and I can tell you, this place ain't so bad._

_-Gaige_

* * *

**O Hai guise! **

**Sheesh, never think my story would attract some 'relative' attention! Release the confetti! Anyway, please review these chapters and let me know what you guys think! It's you guys who motivated me to so this!. Without you guys, I would'nt be able to the strength to press on, this would just become another shelved thing I would never get back to any time soon! Spread the word and please review!  
**

**Thanks!  
**

**-LT**_**  
**_


	13. Chapter 12: Denizens of a New World

Chapter 12

Gaige pressed the "Save" button on her PDA and shut the device down. Axton made his way down the stairs and walked to where Gaige was sitting, which was on her not brand new, but new to her bed.

"The rest of us are going down to the Hyperion Information blockade," he explained to her. "I understand if you don't want to come with us since you just got here,"

"No no it's fine," Gaige said standing up from her bed and putting the PDA in her back pocket "It'll be nice to check out the sights of Pandora,"

Axton chuckled and said back to her "Heh, I get it, cause there nothing sustainably presentable on this dump. The only place of interest is the Southern Shelf of Pandora. I mean, it's cold as hell up there, but I like the cold." He explained rubbing the back of his neck, "Well, let's get going..." He then said walking away from Gaige.

'_Maya, you lucky bastard'_ Gaige thought to herself.

* * *

Gaige walked upstairs to see all of the Vault hunters (Except Roland and Lilith for obvious reasons) loading up their weapons, making sure they had fresh clips and that their energy cells were charged up for them.

"You gotta gun Gaige?" Salvador said looking back at her.

Gaige looked down at the ground and kicked her feet slightly and said quietly

"..no..."

Mordecai walked over to her and said "Well, head down to Marcus' store, he oughta give you a freebie, just say that I sent, he owes me afterall," he finished before laughing slightly.

"Okay then.." Gaige said "Soooo, uhhhh...where's Marcus?"

"Out the door to the far left, can't miss it" Axton said using his thumb as director.

"Kay then, BRB." Gaige said walking down stairs.

As soon as she walked downstairs, Axton looked at where she previously was and scratched his head a bit, before saying to the rest of the hunters.

"What the fuck does 'BRB' mean?"

* * *

Gaige did exactly as Axton told her to and made a sharp turn left after exiting the Raiders HQ, which was relatively small for an entire rebellion, they weren't exactly hidden as well. Gaige took note on how many people have seem to have lost their minds completely (As well as their livers and kidneys). Their lives looked like shit over here, what didn't make sense to Gaige is...well...why don't they just leave? Maybe it has to do with the 'H' orbiting the planet. As she continued to walk to the left she came across a sign that read 'Marcus Munitions! (No Refunds)'.

"This must be the place," Gaige sighed.

She made her way down the steps to see a man who was grossly out of shape, who wore a shirt that was stained with God knows what. He had a sweaty stench that made Gaige nearly gag. The only redeemable factor is that he sold guns. Gaige figured everybody knew this about him, even himself.

"Well hello young lady!" Marcus said "How can I help you?"

"Uhmmmm..Hi" Gaige said back, she really didn't want to stay long "I'm here to pick up a weapon, Mordecai sent me.."

"Oh jeez," Marcus said putting the palm of his hand to his face "That man is pricey as hell when it comes to herbs. Fine..." Marcus then sighed and rolling his eyes. He went into the back room to find Gaige a gun that suited her.

"Here, it's Hyperion made, deadly accurate and easy to use, figured it your type of gun." Marcus said handing her a submachine gun.

Gaige picked up the SMG and took note of how light it was. If she were to ballpark it, it must've been only about 2.5 pounds. It featured a electronic scope that was built in on the top and had a bayonet to help get out of sickty situations.

"Okey dokey, thanks!" Gaige said as common courtesy goes

"You're welcome young lady, and tell Mordecai that stuff knocked me out in an instant!" Marcus said before letting out a long laugh.

"Okay then..." Gaige said walking out up the stairs, she had no idea what he meant, but quite frankly, she didn't care. she wanted to leave the building as fast as she could, so that she wouldn't suffocate from the stench that Marcus gave off.

Gaige walked back to the HQ to see everybody standing outside ready to go.

"Well, Marcus doesn't hold back I guess," Mordecai said looking at the gun he gave Gaige.

"Yeah well, he also said 'That stuff knocked me out in an instant', whatever that means," she said confused.

Mordecai let out a small laugh "Yep, my grow is not to be trifled with.."

"I concur," Axton said piping in "I mean, it can cause this woman to hysterically laugh for 30 seconds straight, then demand that we grill up some steaks and scream that she has flies in her brain! Hahaha, Ow!" Axton said rubbing his arm after Maya punched it.

"Prick," She said softly glaring elsewhere.

"Extra! Extra! Changes to the bounty board have been made!" The man from the Hyperion info kiosk.

Axton walked over to the kiosk, which caused the man to hold up his hand to his face and cower over him.

"Don't hurt me again! Please!" The man shrieked at Axton.

"Calm down," Axton said "I just want to look at the bounties."

Axton skimmed down to look at each of the bounties that were posted for each one of the Vault hunters. Salvador's, Zer0's and Maya's all remained the same, but not Axton's.

** MOST WANTED**

** Axton the Commando**

** REASONS**

**High Treason**

**Murder**

**Betrayal**

**Desertion**

**Treachery**

** Manslaughter**

**Murder of Hyperion Executive**

**Aided a Siren's Escape**

**REWARD:**

**$800,000,000,000.00**

**WARNING: EXTREMELY DANGEROUS**

**MUST BE BROUGHT IN ALIVE**

"Well, at least he got 'Extremely Dangerous' right," Axton said shrugging his shoulders.

He then noticed that Jack didn't use his Vault hunter attire as a mugshot for him. Instead Jack used an old photo of him wearing his Hyperion tuxedo formal suit. The picture was taken from inside of Hyperion headquarters, presumably to let people know Axton was. There was a stamp that was placed next to Axton's head in the picture that said 'TRAITOR' in bold red ink.

"Charming..." Axton said quietly.

"Jeez!" Gaige said looking at Axton's bounty "And I thought Maya's bounty was high..."

"Yeah...There were changes made..." Axton said quietly. he then noticed a new face was posted, someone he didn't recognize. It said

**WANTED**

**Dr. Kurtis M. Thatcher**

**REASONS**

**Malpractice**

**Murder**

**Disobeyment**

**Emulsion spreader**

**Manslaughter**

**Inhumane Experimenter**

**REWARD**

**$400,000,000,000.00**

'_Who the hell is this?' _Axton thought to himself. Despite being a doctor, he was relatively young, and had a medium complexion to his face, very gaunt and edged out. He decided not to worry about it until much later, he could probably turn him in for extra coin thinking in hindsight. His plan after he killed Jack is the get the hell outta Pandora. Hopeful Maya would want to come with him...start out fresh perhaps..

"Well let's head for the info tower." He then said heading over to the fast-travel station.

* * *

"Welcome to the Eridian Blight," Mordecai said "Back before Jack this place...well, it's still was shithole, but it wasn't THIS bad...Now you gotta take that security override chip that I took from the stockade and plug it into the computer in order to access the files."

"Whoa..." Gaige said slack jawed at the mountains that were flowing with the glowing purple compound known as Slag.

"We best keep moving/ Hyperion must drown in blood/ Theirs to be exact," Zer0 said sheathing his sword.

Before the five of them were moving, Gaige walked up to Maya and whispered to her.

"Is there a reason he talks in poetry?" She said looking strangely at Zer0.

"No clue," Maya said shrugging her shoulders while walking away.

"Well it's super badass!" Gaige said following Maya.

"I'll have to agree/ You are a smart person Gaige/ Who can speak the truth." Zer0 said looking back at her.

Axton looked at the giant bridge that led them to the Hyperion information tower. They proceeded to walk across the bridge to go to the other side of the giant wall. Which was formerly known as the Arid Badlands.

It was all coming back to Axton, he could remember crystal clear the cliff-side he sat perched in saving the original Vault hunter lives with his sniper. He remembered the giant, beaten-up 'Welcome' sign that till somehow flickered, even the gate Claptrap used to help the Vault hunters get into Fyrestone. Now the town was caked in the glowing purple emulsion that dissolved most of the houses leaving them as garbage piles waiting to be hauled away by JNK Loaders.

"Jesus," Axton said "Lot can happen in a few years..."

"Theres the tower! let's get to eet!" Salvador yelled pointing with his gun in the direction of the tower.

"Sup bro?" A voice came from the ECHO "Hows it hangin?"

"Fuck you Jack..." Axton muttered through the microphone

"Oh come on! Don't be such a Danny Downer! I just had a delicious Fillet Mignon steak with some green beans and baked potatoes, with a nice cold glass of Champagne to go with it of course, boy was it delicious! What did you have for chow? Oh yeah that's right! Baby feet and Skag feces with a cup of bullymong piss to wash it down I suppose... I see you're trying to get some info on where I'm keeping your Siren friend. Well, you wouldn't have to be looking for her in the first place if you didn't murder my daughter who is also your niece Axton!" Jack yelled to Axton over the mic.

"Don't act like I'm the only one who's drawn blood Jack...You got more blood on our hands than most of us!" Axton retorted.

"Aw shaddup Axton! That's no way to talk to your big bro! Here, I'll give you a present for being the best little bro ever! A giant freakin robot! Enjoy!" Jack said cutting off his microphone.

"Wait wait wait," Gaige said holding up both of her arms in confusion "Not only did you work for Hyperion, but that seemingly asswipe on the ECHO..Is your brother?"

"Yeah...It's a long story Gaige, we just need to take care of this!" Axton yelled putting his rifle up to his shoulder taking aim at the giant robot that just landed in front of the hunters.

It was like no other Loader type Axton has ever seen. This robot must've been about 3 stories high or even more for that matter. It resembled the shape of a badass loader but was about 5 times bigger than that. Needless to say it didn't take much effort for them to dispose of the mech that was labeled Saturn on the side, presumably named after the giant planet in the Milky Way Galaxy.

"Let's see what you can do Death!" Gaige said radioing her mechanical friend to attack the giant robot. Much to everybody's knowing, the robot proved to be a superb fighter as it is trained to act upon immediate threat presented, in this case, it was the giant robot.

With the combined efforts of the five of them, they managed to destroy the giant robot and leave it nothing more and a pile of metal and oil, just waiting to be picked up by the JNK Loaders.

"Hell Yeah!" Axton said "Take that Asshole!" He then said flipping off the giant H orbiting the planet, which cause Maya to roll her eyes and scoff.

As they made their way to the top of the tower, whilst fighting off dozens of loaders and several engineers to finally make it to the top of the tower. Axton reckoned that the Sabre alone slaughtered 30 Soldiers on it's own. Jack wasn't willing to give up the information to where his only ticket to the Warrior was being held for nothing or nobody. They finally made it to the summit of the tower, after many bodies and blood being spilled by the five.

"Alright.." Axton said "Here it goes.." He then took out the security override chip that Mordecai provided. He was about to plug the chip into the computer, until.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you..." A voice came from behind, causing the five of them to turn around to see the silhouette of a man in the back of the room, followed by the flick of a lighter and sparking the lighter into flames, before holding to his mouth to light his cigarette before putting the lighter into the cigarette.

He began to walk from the shadow and walk towards the hunters slowly.

"Put...The chip...down..." He said revealing his face. The man was wearing a trench coat along with some combat jeans and boots. He had a medium complexion and gaunt face with some slicked back hair and a slight goatee.

"Who the hell are you?" Axton said holding the rifle to his face.

"Look, I'll explain everything later, we need to get back to your home base in Sanctuary.."

The man said to him.

"To hell with that," Axton retorted "We're gonna put in this override chip and figure out where our friend is being held!"

"Oh that?" The man said pointing to the chip "You mean that target identification chip that can pinpoint the exact location of Sanctuary so Hyperion could send in their troops to kill off any other resistance leaders, in this case, you guys?"

Axton looked at the chip for a second then looked back at the man "You're a wanted man aren't you?"

"So are you," The man said "Look, I can rewire the chip back at Sanctuary then you can put the chip back into the computer and locate your friend, just trust me okay?"

"Like hell we will!" Maya said readying her fists preparing to phaselock.

"Wait! Maybe we should trust him!" Gaige said to the four of them

"What makes you say that?" Salvador asked "He looks like a Hyperion scumbag to me..."

"Did you say the same for Axton too?" The man then said.

Axton looked at him shocked then said to him, "How the hell did you know about that?!"

The man held up his hands in the 'I give' stance and said to him "Look, I will explain everything when we get back."

"You think I'm an idiot don't you?" Salvador asked the man.

"Maybe," The man said "But can you count?"

Salvador looked at him confused, "W-what?" he stuttered out

"I said can you count?!" The man said louder to Salvador

"Of course I can count, you idiot!" Salvador yelled

'_Damnit! How did he know I can't count?!"_ Salvador thought to himself worried.

"Look, let's get back to Sanctuary okay?" The man said.

"Fine..." Axton muttered

* * *

Back at Sanctuary they made their way to the HQ where the man was going to answer a lot of questions from the people, maybe they'd go to Moxxi's or something. Either way, the plan had to be put on hold for a bit, until the man could 'supposedly' rewire the chip.

"Why did you trust him?" Maya asked Axton

"Same way I trusted Roland, there's something keen about him Maya." Axton said.

"Alright...just don't get too caught up in this revenge thing okay? I want you all in one piece. Promise?" Maya asked softly looking at Axton with her hazel eyes

"Promise." Axton said kissing her lips, holding it for a few seconds then walked back to the HQ.

"Could I take off my Jacket here?" The man asked Axton pointing to the table.

"Yeah sure," Axton said waving his hand at the man.

"Thanks," He then said unbuttoning his jacket and setting it on the table, revealing that both of his arms weren't of his own. Instead they were cybernetic prosthetics that resembled the same muscular features of an actual arm. He was wearing a tactical undershirt what defined his somewhat tuned body. He wasn't as toned as Brick, but had near same muscular size as Axton.

Gaige couldn't believe it, she has never met anybody that had a prosthetic arm, let alone two. She felt as if she could hopefully connect with this person more than anybody else.

"Wow" Gaige said "I've never met anybody who had a cybernetic arm!"

"Yeah," The man said "Not really something that defines a normal human. Did you build that arm yourself?" He then asked pointing to Gaige's prosthetic.

"Oh this? Well sorta, I've made several modifications to it, but it's based off a Thatcher Industries prosthetic, my Dad paid top-dollar for this!" Gaige said showing her his arm.

"Interesting," The man said looking at it.

"Why do you say that?" Gaige asked trivially at the man, which he replied

"Well, I happened to design that model of prosthetic." The then said letting off a smile

"No way!" Gaige said excited "That's sooo cool!"

"Guess so.." Axton said "What's your name?"

The man shifted his attention from the admiring girl that stood in front of him and looked at Axton and replied.

"Kurtis...Kurtis Thatcher..Just call me Kurt for short."

* * *

**AN: Hey guys!**

**Sorry its been taking so long to put out these chapter, but due to me having a life, I have other stuff that needed to get taken care of, well I hope it was worth the wait! Please review so I can improve. Thanks!  
**

**-LT  
**


	14. Chapter 13: Undying Traditions

Chapter 13

"Kurtis huh?" Axton said rubbing his chin "I knew I recognized you from the wanted poster."

"There's a wanted poster of me?" Kurt said looking confused, which cause Salvador to walk towards him,

"Yeah, here's a copy, this shit is spread all over the damn place," Sal said handing him a copy of the poster. Kurt began to scan his eyes across the poster, shifting his eyes downward to read all of the reasons.

"Oh bullshit!" Kurtis scoffed "Jack pulled most of these from his egotistical ass!"

"We figured," Gaige said "Hey do you guys mind? I promised my dad I would do a video call with them when I touched down on Pandora."

"Wait...What's your father's name?" Kurt asked walking over to Gaige. Gaige had a weird look on her face and replied

"Uhhhh... Tom...Tom Connors..." She said confused. Kurt's eyes widened and he had a happy look on his face.

"Whoa...I uhhh... Go ahead and make that call...I just want to say hi..." Kurt said to Gaige

"Alright," Gaige said pulling up the video call feature on her PDA and pressed call. "You know him?"

"Yeah...Kinda.." Kurt said.

"Hello? Gaige?" The device said as her father's face became clearer on the screen

"Hi Daddy!" Gaige said with a smile on her face .

"Well hi there Gaige! hows Pandora treating you?" Her father asked curioisly.

"Oh, It's not too bad," Gaige said twisting her wrists around to show the 'meh' disposition of the planet "I've made friends real fast and Death Trap proved to be and able companion!"

"Great to know!" Her father said to her.

"Oh yeah..." Gaige said remembering what Kurt told her, "This guy I met wants to say hello to you..." turning the camera over to face Kurt's direction.

"Hey Doc..." Kurt said waving at the camera, causing Gaige's father gawk at him for a moment before saying in complete disbelief.

"Wha? That's not who I think it is!? Kurtis Thatcher?!"

"That's DOCTOR Thatcher, Mr. Connors" Kurtis said correcting her father while looking at the screen,

"And that's Doctor Connors to you!" her father said correcting him in return "The last time I saw you is when I taught you! Was that like what? 4 years ago? You must've been at least 18 or something..."

"Correct," Kurt said

"Well, it's great to see you're in good health Dr. Thatcher...oh...What happened to your arms?" Gaige's father said shifting his vision towards his cybernetic arms.

"It's uhhhh...It's a long story, Doc" Kurt said scratching his head.

"Well alright then, I better get going. Kurt? Can I ask you a favor?" Her father asked

"Uhh, sure..What is it?" Kurt asked

"Just...Make sure my little girl doesn't get hurt.." Gaige's father said looking slightly concerned "I know how harsh life on Pandora is and well.."

"It's alright...I'll do that for you.." Kurt said holding his hand up, he didn't want Gaige's father to get all emotional over a communication between them.

"Thanks Kurt, I know I can count on you...And Gaige?" Her father said looking at her

"Yeah dad?' Gaige asked, her father paused for a minute then said to her

"Take care of yourself too hon...I'll miss you."

"I will dad.. I'll miss you too," Gaige said more sincere.

"Well, bye Gaige! I love you!" Her father said

"Love a too dad! Bye" Gaige said pressing the end call on her device.

"Well..." Kurt said taking a long breath "That was weird..."

"But totally awesome at the same time!" Gaige said jumping up from the chair she sat on "How long have you known my dad?" She then asked walking over to Kurt.

"Uhh...bout 10 years...My father and him were good friends." Kurt responded

"Wow...That's so...wicked..." Gaige said looking at Kurt dead in his blue-green eyes.

"Well, since you're here," Maya said walking up to him "You might as well tell us who you are"

"I guess I can tell you guys." Kurt said scratching his head. "Pull up a chair, this might take a while,"

_'Great'_ Axton thought_ 'A hike through a complex of giant robots, dozens of foot soldiers, and now story time...'_

"Well," Kurtis began "I am the heir to a long line of a company called 'Thatcher industries', started by my Great-Great-Great Grandfather, Olson Thatcher. Originally, they only produced medical equipment for local hospitals, then his son, Samuel Thatcher stepped in to take the bloodline, expanding the business so that they covered more equipment and started making advancements in prosthetics, making them almost seem human-like. Then his son, Howard Thatcher, decided that they shouldn't just rely on medical equipment and prosthetics to provide their source of income, so they started to create armaments for the military groups. We went on to produce the best damned armaments in the far reaches of the galaxy. Malcolm Thatcher, which was my grandfather, believed that they should have made new types of weaponry, and start our own privatized military group, but not just and normal marines, super soldiers. He labeled it Project TITAN, to produce the greatest foot soldiers ever made. He liked to call them 'disposable heroes' due to their superhuman capabilities. I've seen photos of some of the companies...I've never seen anything like them...They must've been close to 10 feet My father, Albert Thatcher, decided to have bioorganic studies, trying to dip the companies fingers in the honey jar that was known as science. As for me...Welp..I've got nothing really."

"Wow..." Axton said "You got a good memory don't you?"

"Yeah.." Kurt said rubbing the back of his neck "Well, I hope that wasn't too boring for you guys.."

"No no..It's fine" Gaige said "To be honest, I was mad that you stopped"

Kurt looked at Gaige then let out a small laugher "Well alright then...Didn't see that coming."

"Listen, I want to join the Raiders, I need to make sure the person who shit all over my life gets a mouthful himself," Kurt said in a more serious tone of voice.

"Yeah well get in line, bub," Axton said crossing his arms "I gotta score to settle with Jack..." Kurt was silent of a moment, remembering who Axton really was, then silently concurring with his statement.

"So can I join?" Kurt asked Axton.

"Sure..Why the hell not?" Axton said shrugging his shoulders, "But first you gotta pass the test.." He then said letting off a smirk.

"Oh God.." Maya said face-palming herself at the idea.

"Come on, we gotta pay a visit to Moxxi's" Axton said standing up.

"Who's Moxxi?" Kurt asked

"You'll figure out," Axton said walking out of the HQ, to have Kurt follow him out of the door.

Gaige looked at the door for a few seconds and let out a sigh. First day on Pandora, and it was this good already.

* * *

Moxxi's bar, home of the loudest music , cold beer, and lukewarm pizza. The only source of entertainment on Sanctuary. It was where people could relax, play darts, win the lottery, get drunk as hell, and try to come on to Moxxi (Which she would always deny). Axton and Kurt took a seat on the bar stool and waited for Moxxi's return from the back or the bar.

"So where is 'Moxxi'?" Kurt asked Axton, trying to talk over the loud techno music, who was sitting to the left of him.

"She'll come soon," Axton said smirking.

"Hey Axton!" Moxxi said walking out of the back room.

_'Jesus_' Kurt thought looking downwards at Moxxi 'Those Real?'

"Hey Handsome..." Moxxi said looking at Kurtis, mostly paying attention to his eyes. "What's your name?"

Kurt snapped out his trance and said "K-Kurtis,"

"Kurtis?" A man with a English tone said over Kurt's shoulders, which caused him to shift his attention over to his right, to see a dark skinned man, with a gentleman -like mustache and clothes to match it. "As in 'Kurtis Thatcher?'" He said walking up to him.

"Yeah..." Kurt said "And you are?"

"Oh! Where are my manners when I need them at utmost importance? I am Sir Hammerlock," Hammerlock said giving off a salute,

"Well, nice to meet you Sir Hammerlock," Kurt said

"I've read you father's book several times over. I'll have to say, his way of thinking was truly ingenious and clever." Hammerlock said holding out Kurt's father's book.

"Yeah...," Kurt said "My dad had a way of thinking...he was always...Well... out there..It's glad to see that some people take an interest in reading on this planet."

"Well, somebody must keep the tradition alive, correct?" Hammerlock stated giving off a small laugh. "I must be off, fare thee well, Dr. Thatcher, I hope to read a book that you published one day!" He then said extending out his hand

"Well thanks Sir Hammerlock," Kurt said extending his arm and shaking Hammerlock's prosthetic arm "Ah.. A Thatcher Industries prosthetic I see..." he said looking at the arm.

"Well of course! I only use the best of the best, and by Jove, Thatcher Industries is the best!" Hammerlock said walking out of the bar.

Kurt then shifted his attention back to Moxxi.

"So you're a doctor?" Moxxi asked putting her elbows on the table and resting her head on her hands.

"Yeah...Technically.." Kurt said.

"So how's Sanctuary been treating you?" Moxxi said.

"Well, it's a very fine titty...I mean city.." Kurt stuttered out mentally slapping himself

_'Jesus, keep it together Kurt...'. _He thought to himself

Moxxi then chuckled then asked them both "So drinks for you guys? Is he joining the raiders?"

"Yup," Axton said to Moxxi "We need an initiation mug,"

"Yeah it would be in our breast...best intentions to keep this visit at a minimum," Kurt said mentally punching himself for letting that slip out once again.

_ 'Fucking Kurt, what the hell's your problem?' _he thought to himself

Moxxi then laughed and brought out a giant mug, Kurt reckoned that the thing must've been at least a liter in size. He then looked at it and said.

"Hey Axton, It's kinda strange to do this on my own. You should have a drink too." Kurt said looking at Axton, which cause him to shrug his shoulders and say,

"Eh, what the hell? Can you get me one too Moxx?" he asked Moxxi, which she was glad to oblige.

After some time of filling the mugs up to the brim with a combination Ale and whiskey, she slid the drinks to the both of them.

"Well, here ya go! Enjoy!" Moxxi said standing back.

"Alright," Axton said picking up the mug and holding it to Kurt's general direction "To the Raiders!"

Kurt picked up his mug and said "Yeah...To the Raiders!" He clanged his mug with Axton's, then the two began to chug.

They were at equal drinking levels, chugging at the same speed, which caused everybody in the bar to look at them to see if they really going to finish it. They both finished at the same exact time and slamming their mugs face down on the table. Both of them were coughing and gagging, it was a reasonable amount of alcohol.

"Jesus!" Kurt said "Just like college!"

"Welcome to the Crimson Raiders, Kurt!" Axton said patting his back.

"Sheesh that was really fun. Hey Moxxi, you think we can get another one?" Kurt said putting a wad of cash on the table.

"Sure thing, sug," She said pouring them another mug each.

* * *

Maya was reading a book back at the HQ explaining the laws of Physics, which was ironically written by Malcolm Thatcher, Kurtis' grandfather.

_'Axton was right'_ Maya thought to herself _'There is something about him..'_

"Hey...When do you think they'll come back?" Gaige asked Maya. Gaige was lying on her bed, tossing a ball she found into the air and catching it again out of sheer boredom.

"They should be coming soon," Maya said still reading the book.

Lo and behold, the door flung open to reveal a (very) drunk Axton and Kurt stumble into the HQ laughing aimlessly at absolutely nothing.

"Oh man!" Kurt said " can't remember the last time I was this dunk..."

"Me either..." Axton said. He usually could keep his alcohol in check, but he reckoned he must of drank at least two more initiation mugs. It was a good thing Kurt had a lot of money on him, otherwise they would have to pay Moxii, in well...other ways...

"Hey...There's my favorite Siren!" Axton said stumbling closer to her "Enjoyin that book?"

"Quite," Maya said smirking at him. She had to admit, Axton was hilarious when he was piss drunk, was this what she was like when she was stoned?

"Well, I'm gon go ta bud...bed, good...noght Maya," Axton said kissing her cheek before making his way upstairs.

Kurt looked at Maya and said rubbing his neck "Eh...Uhhhh. Serry I got Axton drunk as hell, I uhhh.."

"It's fine." Maya said holding her hand up "He's actually pretty funny when he's like that,"

"Yeah..you should' herd him in Moxxi's didn't stop talking bout yous nonstop," He said supporting himself on the table.

"Really?" Maya said blushing slightly,

"yeeeh," Kurt said sluggishly "'E said that he's finnly fund a way to put his past b'hind him...or sumthin...can't remember.."

Maya laughed a bit at this, he was glad that Axton finally opened up on somebody, and told him how he felt, about her...

"Well, Imma go sleep ouside 'r sumthin," Kurt said beginning to stumble outside

"No way!" Gaige said walking up to him and grabbing his shoulder "You can sleep in here right?" She said looking at Maya.

Maya shrugged her shoulders "Well, he IS a raider now." She said "Mordecai isn't here so I guess you can sleep on the couch,"

"Oh good!" Kurt said back at her "Well, Imma go to couch now. G'night Maya and g'night Gaige"

"Goodnight, Kurt!" Gaige said looking at Kurt as he made his way up the stairs

"And Gaige? I make a promis to you father...I 'ntend to keep it!" He said then finally walking upstairs.

_'Man...what a cool guy.."_ Gaige thought to herself _'Gotta get drunk with him..."_

* * *

_'You make me proud, son...This is beyond cruelty!...FINISH IT THATCHER!'_

Kurt shot up from his sleep from the nightmare he was having. It didn't take long for his buzz to wear off, mostly due to his prosthetics not having to have blood pumping to those parts of the body anymore. He sat up and rubbed his temples, looking around making sure he didn't wake anybody, letting out a sigh seeing that he didn't. He then stood up, and went over to the deck and looked at the night sky.

_'What are you gonna do now Kurt?_' He said to himself

**_'Kill Jack...that's what you__ d_**_**o..**._' Another voice said in his head.

_'But to be honest, Axton should be the one to do it..._' He then thought

**_'Screw Axton! He had the chance! Now do what he couldn't! Trust nobody!"_** The voice then said.

* * *

Gaige was rolling around in her bed, trying to get some sleep. She tried numerous times closing her eyes to maybe trick them into falling asleep, but it wasn't helping. Maybe it was jet lag that was causing her to not sleep, or the fact that she was on Pandora, one of the most despised planets for it's overall appearance and lawlessness. She heard a loud pant from upstairs and reckoned that it was Kurt who said that. She slowly sat up from her bed and tip-toed upstairs, making sure she wouldn't wake up Maya in the process. When she got upstairs, she found Kurt standing out by the deck just looking at the night sky.

"Are you alright?" Gaige asked Kurt, which prompted him to spin around and find her standing behind him.

"Yeah, I'm fine...did I wake you up?" Kurt asked worried.

"No no, I was up the whole time, can't get any sleep..." She said.

"Hmmmmm. Something that you'll have to get used to I guess..." Kurt said looking back at the sky.

Gaige walked out to the balcony to see the night sky the same way Kurt did, glistening with stars and neighboring planets, along with the giant 'H' that circumnavigated the planet with its ever present eye.

"Say...What's the reason for that?" Gaige said pointing at his arms.

"Well," Kurt said looking at his cybernetic arms "Like I said to your dad, it's a long story."

"I'm here, I'm all ears, think of it as a bedtime story or something..." Gaige said, eager to know about Kurt's past.

Kurtis looked around and looked back at Gaige and sighed.

"Alright.." Kurt said "Get comfortable..this'll take a while to explain..."

* * *

**AN: Hey guys!**

**So as you probably guessed, I'll be updating this fanfic once every 2-4 days or so. Thanks for the positive feedback about Kurt (I thought adding an OC would be a catastrophe, but it seems to be working with everybody so that's fine I guess). Spread the word and please review! You reviews and favs are much appreciated!  
**

**Thanks!  
**

**-LT  
**


	15. Chapter 14: You're Gonna Go Far, Kid

Chapter 14

**AN: Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait! hopefully this chapter will be worth the wait for most of you people! Got a little surprise for people at the end of this chapter! Enjoy!**

* * *

-5 YEARS AGO-

"And that concludes this lecture for the day, have a pleasant weekend and make sure to study for the exam on Tuesday," Dr. Connors said turning off the projector.

The entire classroom stood up to give off an applause for the lecture they received. There was about 90 students who were all studying Theoretical Physics, hopefully to earn their PhD diplomas in that field. As all the students began to gather their notebooks and textbooks and head for the door leading out of the classroom, one of the students walked up to Dr. Connors.

"Dr Connors?" The boy said walking up to Connors, he turned around to come face to face with the boy whose father was a good friend to him.

"Ah, Kurt!" Connors began with a smile on his face.

"Great lecture Doctor, I just wanted to ask a few questions that pertained to this topic that's all," Kurt said walking closer.

"Well, go ahead, I've got time. My daughters supposed to be coming soon I guess I can answer a question or two," Dr. Connors said looking at his watch.

"Well, I've always wondered, is there a connection between all of the sciences? Like biology and Theoretical physics? Like can certain algorithms span between separate studies?" Kurt asked while motioning with his hands.

Dr. Connors looked at him for a moment, then glanced down at the ground rubbing his chin with his hand in ponder. How could he answer that complicated question?

"Well..." Connors began "I believe Einstein had the same question about that, but regarding general relativity, how energy truly functions." Connor began

"It all started with E=mc^2, the mass-energy equivalence equation, where it can define all relative points of motion and energy. Biologically, decay rates can apply to that as well. Benjamin Gompertz created a equation that explains relative decay, or in this case. Death. He may have the general relativity questions Einstein, Bohr, and many other physicists had in those days. True pioneers of science really, sparking the flames to many technologies we have today."

"Is it possible to reverse those functions?" Kurt asked.

Connors stood still for a moment, then finally confessed "That, I have no clue Kurt. Perhaps you'll figure it out one day!" He said patting him on the back.

"Well..." Kurt said "I've been working on something" He then pulled out his notebook, pulled out a pencil and began writing out an equation, a complicated one at that. (AN: I'll try my best to reconstruct the equation so you can get a understanding of it.)

M=dE + (log(X(3λ)) (M(mc^2) (sin(λ4(4M^2))  
...-dt... K... λ (AN: Imagine the periods aren't there)

Kurt finished up writing his equation and handed the notebook over the Dr. Connors, who looked at the equation for a minute and widened his eyes at the sheer complexity and logical sense it made.

"My God..." Connor said in astonishment, he then looked at Kurt slowly, "How did you ever come up with this?"

"Oh I uhhhh," Kurt said scratching his head "Thought of it while I was shaving..."

"Well shave more often!" Connors said laughing at that statement.

"Well I better head out, gotta go meet with my Dad." Kurt said

"Alright, tell him I said hello! You're gonna go far kid!" Connors said at Kurt while he walked out of the door.

Kurt began walking down the hallway of the college, he was pondering whether or not that reverse decay is possible, maybe regeneration? He wasn't in the mood for playing God at this point, he just wanted to meet up with his Dad and take care of some business. He accidentally bumped into a teenaged girl who was walking down the hallway, who had red hair and wore grungish attire.

"Oh, sorry," The girl said

"It's alright," Kurt said to her, he then continued to keep on walking down the hallway to get in his car.

* * *

Back at the Thatcher estate, Kurt took a seat in his father's study, which contained mountains of books, old and new, explaining general relativity, biology, theoretical physics, you name it, he had it.

"Dad?" Kurt asked looking at his father, who was looking at a book written by his great grandfather.

"Oh Kurt, I wanted to tell you about something," his Dad said closing the book and standing up.

"Alright, what is it?" Kurt asked,

"Your great grandfather always had the philosophy "If you know what you're worth, then go earn it yourself, don't cry on peoples shoulders and continue to ask what's best for you, because you already know. You've already earned your PhD in Theoretical Physics and are already working on a Masters in Applied Biology, such a thing has never been done in this family. You've brought honor to your family and to yourself Kurt." His father said smiling and patting his shoulder

"So now what?" Kurt asked "What is there for me to do?"

"Well you've heard of Pandora right?" his father asked.

"Yeah, the giant dump of a planet that just sprung a priceless element? What about it?"

"We'll" His father said "Hyperion is looking for people who can help in research in providing more practical uses for the alien element, and they've asked for your assistance,"

"What? Really?" Kurt said in disbelief "What about Thatcher industries? Your saying I work for Hyperion now?"

"No, no," His father said reassuring him "It's more of assisting them in research, think of it as 'Hands on'. What do you say?"

Kurt paused for a moment to think about this, then he remember what he told Dr. Connors, about how it could be possible to reverse decay rates and regenerate lost limbs and such.

"Alright.." Kurt said looking at his father.

"Excellent! You make me proud, son." His father said smiling at him,

"Is that what Grandpa said to you too?" Kurt said giving off a slight grin at his Dad's remark,

"Yep" his father said.

* * *

Kurt was taken to the Hyperion headquarters located on Eden-5, he was escorted to one of the executives offices where he would be evaluated and see if the person was truly qualified. Kurt stood outside of the room where one of the executives was currently doing some last minute paperwork supposedly. He took a deep breath then knocked on the door.

"Come in," A gruff, muffled voice said on the other side,

Kurt opened the door to see a middle aged man, with his hair in somewhat of a faux hawk style, with his forehead slicked upward. He had greenish-hazel eyes and a gauntish complexion to his face. The man was looking over some report of the Eridium findings on the planet of Pandora, he shifted his attention to Kurt's face and stood up.

"Hello, I'm here to see Axton?" Kurt asked the man.

"That'd be me," Axton said still seated "And you are?"

"Uh..Kurtis Thatcher" He replied

"Oh," Axton said standing up "I was told you were coming to see me, good afternoon," He then extended his hand, which Kurt took and shook. Axton then pointed to the chair right next to Kurt, involuntarily letting him know to have a seat there. Axton then took a seat and said.

"Your father is Albert Thatcher, correct?" Axton asked Kurt picking up a file.

"Yeah, he runs Thatcher Industries," Kurt replied

"Great, damn they have some good guns..." He said silently "Wish we were taking notes from your great great grandfather!" He then laughed lightly before opening up the dossier.

"So it says here you have a PhD in Theoretical Physics and have a Masters in applied Biology, thats...astounding for somebody your age.." Axton said looking at the files amazed at his record.

"I skipped High School," Kurt explained "My Dad thought that I'd be better off going straight to college so I could lead the company,"

"So what are you doing here?" Axton mused looking at Kurt funny.

"Well, I wanted to do some research and extend my knowledge on the subjects, hands-on I guess." Kurt explained his predicament to Axton

"Well, guess you didn't really need High School," Axton said "Well theres a research facility on Pandora known as the Wildlife Exploitation Preserve, you'll be head of a research team formulating other useful outcomes of Eridium. Sound good?" Axton then asked

"Yeah, that's fine I guess," Kurt said

"Welcome aboard Hyperion Kurt!" Axton said reaching over and shaking his hand.

"Thanks," Kurt said standing up "See you around I guess"

"Yeah, see you," Axton said taking a seat and looking at his papers once more, prompting Kurt to exit his office and head down the hallway, on the way there, he spotted a man who walked passed him that had a mask on and was wearing a tuxedo. he a strange distinction with his face, almost seems perfect, why would he need a mask?

-1 YEAR LATER-

It's been a year since he left Eden 5 to go to Pandora to do research, and he hated everything about Pandora, the people were ignorant, the was technically no sustainable water supply, the wildlife was nothing but friendly, and the planet smelled like Hemorrhoids wrapped in bacon. He hated it so much, but he couldn't leave, he was making so much progress.

"Hows it coming along?" A female voice said from behind his workspace

"Slowly," Kurt replied turning to the lady.

The lady let out a sigh "I gotta feeling we'll never find anything of interest here.."

"Yup, me neither, what more uses could we find of this element rather than just jewelry?" Kurt said

"Don't know, but Handsome Jack pays us a lot to find some use, so we best get on it," The woman said.

"I know Anna, I know" Kurt said

Anna left Kurt alone in his office, so he could continue his work. How was he supposed to find a use for the stupid element? As he thought, he thought, he then remembered what Dr. Connors about how all science could be connected in a certain sense.

It all came to him, he then remembered the equation that he showed Connors, but applying some minor tweaks, adding Eridium in the math, along with its Half-Life (which was a whopping 500 years) and how much radiation it gave off. He thought he could use the properties of theoretical physics to make a mass-spectrometer particle accelerator, t o separate Protons from the Electrons and Neutrons, completely changing its composition, the same technology that was used to create various weaponry that Thatcher industries developed. He called it the Decay-Reversal Algorithm, it took him about 6 hours of trial and error to perfect his incredibly complex formula. As soon as he finished, he relaxed in his chair and looked at his equation he wrote out. He was proud of himself, his dad was right about him.

-1 YEAR LATER-

It took a solid year for the engineers to be able to construct a Mass- spectrometer accelerator, but after many painstaking hours of intricate levels of electromagnetic power housing, it was complete.

"Well, here it goes," Kurt said putting a chunk of pure Eridium into the machine. He pulled the lever to start the machine, the rotors began spinning and the electromagnetic drives began to flicker, until it was spinning at full speed. After about a minute or so, the machine began to slow down before it came to a complete stop. Kurt opened up the container that held the pure Eridium in it, which glimmered in the light with a fantastic purple emission.

He couldn't believe it. He's done it, he created a refined piece of Eridium material.

As he was overfilled with joy by this achievement, he looked in the waste compartment to find a purplish-sludge that the electron driver picked up. It was slightly darker than the refined Eridium, and had an unpleasant odor coming from it.

"Slag..." Kurt said "I'll call this Slag,"

He then decided to take the slag and see if it could be put to more practical uses, since 60% of the Eridium was composed of it. He began slathering things in the compound and set it on fire and such, it turns out, the alien run-off actually proved to be a formidable conductor for those types of elements.

'_Well Grandpa_,' Kurt thought '_This is what makes me famous_'

-1 YEAR LATER-

Kurt spent another solid year studying the more advanced properties of slag It's an alien element, so there must be multiple uses for this.

"Maybe," Kurt said to himself "This could be used as a medicinal use,"

He remembered what Dr. Connors told him once again, how everything was connected. He began to remember the Decay Algorithm he drate the Eridium from the chaff now known as 'Slag'. Maybe...just maybe... he could use it to regenerate limbs...

'_Fuck it_' he thought '_Worth a shot_'

He walked over to the nearest cage that contained a little puppy skag, barely 4 months old. It's left foreleg was bitten off by a Maniac who tried to get a meal from it.

"Here Dukino!" Kurt said whistling, he saw the little skag limp his way over to his general direction. Kurt then pulled out a little syringe that contained the slag in it.

'_This is beyond cruelty.._' Kurt thought to himself '_..but I can probably save this skag._'

He then took the syringe and injected it into Dukino's neck, the skag then ran back into his little bowl to chew on a little bone he was given by Kurt. He decided he would keep a sharp eye on him, and notice any certain changes in his behavior and shape.

The next day, he walked over to Dukino's cage to see that he was looking at Kurt. Kurt looked at his left side and couldn't believe his eyes. Dukino's leg began to grow back to normal.

"I did it..." Kurt said "I fucking did it..."

"Did what?!" a woman screamed through her cage "This is beyond cruelty! My husband and my little girl have been here and we were promised we would be doing tests that benefited science! Not have pointless injections that make us want to go rabid!"

"What do you mean?" Kurt said

"He didn't tell you yet huh? That he's just using you for his own monetary gain?! I heard him talking to his executives, he's just using you! You're just a pawn! And now you put Me, my husband, and my little girl Tina in danger!" The woman screamed.

Kurt looked at the ground for a moment. He knew something was fishy about this, he could tell that Jack was just a snozzy asswipe by the way he talked, acted, and treated his employees, especially Kurt. He looked back up at the woman and said to her,

"Look, I can help your daughter escape if you'd like. I never liked working here too."

"Really?" The woman said "Please do!"

"Alright," Kurt said. He walked over to his desk and pulled out a protean grenade from one of the drawers. He walked back the the cell that contained the family, handed her the grenade and said,

"Tell your daughter to hide that in her dress or something. Keep it secret, keep it safe," Kurt explained quietly.

"Oh Bless you!" The woman said thanking Kurt for providing their daughter with a window to escape

"I'M GONNA EAT YOUR BABIES!" A psycho said in the cage next to him "YOU JUST WAIT WHEN I GET OUTTA HERE, IMMA GET MY ICE CREAM TRUCK AND RUUUUUUN Y'ALL OVER!"

"Shut up, Flesh-Stick!" Kurt yelled at the psycho.

"Alrighty then!" A cocky voice said from behind him "Let's get to testing the subjects!"

"Jack" Kurt said "Were not scheduled for testing yet! I have to determine if the compound is ready for human testing!"

"Can it, Thatcher!" Jack said "We're doing this right now. Guards! Get these savages out of the cages, and the little girl too!"

"NO! PLEASE!" The woman screamed

"Jack! She's just a little girl!," Kurt explained to Jack, trying to dissuade him from hurting the girl, which didn't work.

"And I don't give a skag's ass! Lets Go people! Gotta business to run here!" Jack retorted at Kurt.

The two parents were hooked up to a machine along with the psycho that was captured with them. The apparatus was designed to pump Eridium into the humans, see how much they could possibly take without dying. With each shock and syringe administered, Kurt got more and more angry at Jack for allowing such a cruel punishment being administered on people who didn't sign up for this so to speak.

The machine began to malfunction, and parts began to burst into flames. Jack was the first to leave the scene along with his guards which was typical for the time being. As the machine burst into flames, the bandit Flesh-Stick was able to squeeze out of the contraption, and grab the nearest sharp thing he could find.

"HERE COMES THE ICE CREAM TRUCK! DING DING!" Flash stick said moving closer to the parents.

"Mommy?" The little girl said with tears in her eyes looking at both of her parents suffering.

"Tina!" The mother explained "Take that grenade that I told you to hide in your dress out! Pull the pin, aim for the door and throw it!"

"DING DING!" Flesh stick yelled

"I love you baby! Don't look!" The mother said before getting torn to pieces by Flesh stick, along with the father. Tina took one look at Kurt then pulled the pin and lobbed it at the door, causing as huge explosion, a window for her to escape.

"ICE CREAM FOR EVERYBODY!" Flesh stick said before charging at the child.

Kurt managed to intervene with Flesh sticks plans and restrain him, interlocking his arms with his, putting in a armbar, helping Tina escape.

"Run, Kid! Get outta here!" Kurt yelled at Tina. Tina took one look at each of them before running out of the laboratory. Flesh stick managed to break free of Kurt's arms and stab him in the chest with the metal shard he was carrying. He then tried to run after the girl to kill her too, which he probably wouldn't, Tina was given ample time to escape.

* * *

Kurt laid on the ground in a pool of his blood with the shard sticking out of his chest. If he were to survive, he would have to become the guinea pig for his own cruel testing. He mustered what little strength he had and crawled over to his desk and pulled out a syringe that contained the slag compound in it. He propped up a ECHO device and placed it on his desk. He took a seat in his office chair, and pressed record on the Device.

"Day 732 of working for Hyperion," Kurt began coughing out blood in the process "The compound was tested on two parents to see how much the human body could withstand. The slag wasn't ready, but Jack was too impatient to wait another 3 goddamn months. The test subjects escaped, the labs gone to shit, and I might die soon of blood loss...unless I do something drastic.." Kurt then held up the Syringe and said to the camera "They say every great scientist must put themselves in the line of fire to be considered a pioneer, it seems I don't have much of a choice. Dukino's leg has grown back to normal, regenerated, so it may be able to function for humans, assuming their genetic makeup is relatively similar to that of a human" Kurt then took the metal shard out of his chest and said"...It's time to prove my worth to Thatcher industries...Gonna make you proud Dad..."

Kurt then looked at his wrists, he needed to find the pressure points so the slag could be dispersed throughout the body. He was about to stick the needle there, but hesitated at first. Kurt then thought,_ it's either I do this, or I die_. He injected the syringe into each of his pressure points in his wrists, which caused a slight pain in them. He then opened up his chest would to see that it began to heal itself at incredible speeds.

"I can't believe it..." Kurt said "It seems to be working on humans too..."

He then began to feel some slight pain in his wrists again, but this time, it seemed to grow more severe with every beat of the heart. He lifted his hands to see that they began to turn black and spread down his arm. He yelled in sheer horror as the infection began to slowly eat himself away, his hand began to blacken and pulsate with red and purple emission. It was spreading quickly, and he had to stop it fast.

He ran over to the nearest operating table and laid down on it, he pressed a button on the side and a deep voice said to him.

'Welcome to the voice activated Hyperion operation table, please explain your type of operation."

"Amputation!" Kurt yelled

"Request read as: Amputation," The machine said "Please select region of amputation."

"Left and right arm! Shoulder level!" Kurt yelled on the table, noticing that the infection was spreading fast.

"Request confirmed, administering Adrenaline." The voice said injecting a needle into Kurt's heart, causing it to beat faster and faster, for he couldn't lose consciousness in a amputation like this.

His arms were bolted to the table, his arm had to be dislocated before continuing, or else he could harm the other bones in his skeletal system. The table then made a very quick twisting motion, snapping his arm from the Glenohumeral joint, causing him to scream from the immense pain he received, his arm was twisted in a 180 degree fashion to ensure that arm was disconnected. The same was applied to his other arm, causing more screams of sheer pain.

The machine began to make very fine cuts on the edges of his arms. making sure they wouldn't sever any other part of the body, this cause even more amounts of pain for him. The adrenaline administered to him kept him from falling unconscious from the pain, he needed to stay awake.

As soon as the final cuts were made, the machine began to pull his arm from his body, like a teddy bear bursting at its seams. Kurt has never felt a more intense pain in his life. The machine kept pulling and pulling, until finally, both of his arms were disconnected from his body. To avoid ample blood loss, the machine administered metallic braces so the blood flow would remain in his body.

"Prosthetics, administered," The voice said before taking two state-of-the-art Thatcher industries prosthetics from the table next to it (Kurt kept it for emergencies in case one of his colleagues got into an accident). It attached the two arms and injected a small artificial intelligence chip inside of his brain, that ran down his entire nervous system, so that he would be able to control it.

"Operation complete," The voice said before shutting off

Kurtis collapsed on the floor and began to slowly lose consciousness, it was finally done and over with.

* * *

Kurt awoke after several hours of falling unconscious on the floor, he coughed himself awake and were greeted by his new prosthetic arms. He looked at them for a straight 10 minutes to try and get the hang of it. Kurt looked at the ECHO to still see it was still recording, it recorded his entire amputation process. He walked over to the camera, picked it up, and shut if off. He took the memory chip from the ECHO and put it in his pocket, he decided he would keep it as a memento, of what happens when you try to play God.

_'My God...'_ Kurt said to himself '_Never thought I'd become the customer..._'

Kurt then looked at the same door that Tina used to escape the facility, which was by this point a complete mess. He decided that he would vow to take down Hyperion for their cruel ways and kill Handsome Jack for all the pain and suffering he's cause over the years of his reign. he grabbed a cat and a gun from the from the locker room and bolted out of the facility, trying to run away as fast as he could, maybe he could live off the land, join up with people to help take down Hyperion. He was about two miles away from the facility when he finally stopped running. He looked back at the destroyed facility and said to himself

"This is it Jack..I'm coming for you..."

* * *

"Oh my God..." Gaige said with both of her hands at her mouth with wide eyes after hearing Kurt's tragic story of science

"Yeah...'Oh my God'" Kurt said "Well I hope I didn't bore you or anything with the bedtime story."

" Oh no!" Gaige said reassuring him "It was very interesting and..well..sad..So you're the reason.."

"Yeah," Kurt said "I'm the reason Slag exists"

"Wow..." Gaige said "The stuff you had to go through..."

"It's nothing compared to what Axton had to go through..." Kurt said looking at the sky.

"What do you mean by that?" Gaige asked looking at Kurt confused.

"It's best if he explains it..." Kurt said "You should go to sleep, got a big day tomorrow."

"I guess..." Gaige said "Goodnight Kurt.." She said before kissing his cheek and walking downstairs, not noticing Kurt's slight blush on his cheeks, but it was nothing compared to the redness on Gaige's cheeks while walking downstairs. Kurt looked back at Gaige who was walking downstairs, she took one look at him and then walked down the entire flight. Kurt then looked back at the night sky, he took a glance at his prosthetics and said to himself,

"I went far didn't I doc?"

* * *

**AN: Wow, longest chapter yet! Anyways, here the surprise I promised. I'm going to let you, the viewers, decide the fate of Dr. Kurtis Thatcher, Live or Die? So at the end of your review, please write in capital so I can read it "SAVE KURT" or "KURT MUST DIE," hopefully there will be a large turnout of voters so this can be interesting. Thanks for reading! and remember:**

**SAVE KURT  
**

**or  
**

**KURT MUST DIE  
**

**The choice is yours!  
**

**EDIT: I will be closing the voting on Saturday so make sure you vote what you'd like to happen to Kurt! Thanks! And have a Happy Fooling Native Americans Day! (That goes double for you, Connor)  
**

**-LT  
**


	16. Chapter 15: Float Like a Butterfly

**Chapter 15**

**Hello! Thanks to to people who Voted! HORY SHET! It was a pretty big turn out but the results are:**

**SAVE KURT: 10**

**KURT MUST DIE: 2**

**NEUTRAL: 1 (Props to starfighter-105)**

**I think It's clear what the result is! High fives to RatedRSuperstar87 and BubbyGum24 for being the 15%! *High Fives*!**

**KURT IS SAVED! Thanks so much for the voter turnout! Definitely might do something in the future! Enjoy the next chapter!**

* * *

Kurt was sitting on an office chair making the adjustments to the modulator as he promised to the rest of Vault hunters. It still baffled Kurt how they just trusted him out of the blue. Maybe he was wrong about the people of Pandora. Maybe they weren't all just drunk, brainless, hillbilly degenerates as he pictured years ago. They seemed to have some basic human fundamentals, especially from the Vault hunters.

Kurt was wearing a pair of sleek eyeglasses to ensure that each one of the components would be soldered on appropriately, if he screwed up once, he could wreck the entire chip. He was just wearing a pair of pants, with some combat boots and a undershirt. He heard a slight groan from upstairs and shifted his attention to the stairs to see Axton walk down without his shirt on, rubbing his eyes and holding on to the guard rails while making his way down the steps.

"You look like shit.." Kurt mused looking at his half asleep face,

"'Cause I FEEL like shit," Axton scoffed rubbing his temples before walking into his workout room.

"Where you heading?" Kurt asked

"Workout...Need to get rid of this hangover.." Axton said. It baffled him how he got a hangover this bad. Usually he's the one that keeps his alcohol in check but I guess that's what happens when you drink four giant mugs filled to the brim with Rakk ale and Bladeflower whiskey.

Kurt then rolled his seat around to resume working on the chip, before being stopped by Axton who asked,

"Whassat you're working on?"

"The chip I promised I rewire for you." Kurt said holding his soldering tool to Axton's direction.

"Kay, cool," Axton said then walking into the exercise room.

Kurt was about to put the hot steel onto the chip before he thought to himself, _'how long has it been since I've worked out? Maybe Axton could be a sparring buddy or something. I reckon nobody wants to spar or box with him due to unequal proportions.'_He then walked into the excercise room to see Axton boxing with a homemade punching bag he presumably built. The bag was taking Jabs, hooks, haymakers, and various forms of boxing moves, before Axton stopped to catch his breath.

"That scar." Kurt said pointing to the one in the center of his chest "Is that from a E-Tech?"

Axton looked down to see the giant hole-like scar that relatively healed over the past 5 years or so.

"Yeah...How'd ya know?" Axton asked looking back at him,

"Can tell by the lacerations, and the vein like scars that surround it." Kurt said motioning his hand in a circular form motioning around Axton's chest.

"Oh..." Axton said quietly panting for air.

"Made that yourself?" Kurt asked pointing to the punching bag.

"Yeah," Axton panted wiping the sweat from his face.

"I guess punching bags could help with your speed and accuracy, but do you know the one flaw it has?" Kurt then asked holding out his cybernetic index finger.

"..No?" Axton said raising an eyebrow.

"They can't fight back," Kurt answered taking off his shirt to revealed his slightly scarred body shrugging his shoulders in a circular motion loosing up his joints and cracking his neck. Axton looked at him for a second, scoffed and said

"You wanna spar me huh?"

"Yup." Kurt said smirking at his question.

"Well, you got cybernetic arms so it would be an unfair match up," Axton said pointing to his prosthetics.

"I can mentally control how much thrust my punch can deal," Kurt explained "The average force of a human punch is about 2000 Newtons. I can tune my arms to punch to that limit, so it's quite fair,"

"They're also made of metal," Axton said bringing up another point

"Wrong." Kurt said "They are made from microfibrous, computer operated bio-carbon cells that can tune up or down at the users will. They can be like normal flesh, or as solid as a diamond."

"How much did those things cost?" Axton said still looking at the arms.

"5 Billion per" Kurt said letting off another smirk, causing his eyes to widen in disbelief,

"Holy..." Axton baffled

"Well come on! Lets get to fightin'!" Kurt said going into to the standard fighters stance,

"Fine then! 'En garde'!"

"Thanks for the warning!" Kurt said throwing a jab towards Axton's left side, which he dodged and followed up with a hook that nearly connected with Kurt's side.

It was a trade-off with jabs, punches, hooks, blocks, kicks, with many dodges to follow.

"C'mon! Stop trying to hit me and hit me!" Kurt taunted as he was dodging all of Axton's punches, only to catch one straight in the jaw.

"That's more like it!" Kurt said cracking his neck delivering a swift blow to Axton's side.

"GRAPPLE!" Axton yelled and tacked Kurt to the floor, hoping that he would get him to say 'uncle and proclaim him victor of the match, but Kurt wasn't going to give up easily.

Maya was awoken to the noise of constant thumps and shouts from across the room.

_'What the hell's that noise?'_ Maya wondered getting up from her bed, she decided she would let Gaige sleep in a little more, seeing as she probably didn't get much sleep last night.

Maya began to walk to where the noise was coming from, which was Axton's workout room that he built himself.

"Alright! What the hell's with all the noi-" She was cut off at the sight of two (sweaty) shirtless guys grappling to try and be the victor of the bunch. She had so much heat come up to her cheeks that you could fry an egg on top of them. As she stared at them slack jawed, seeing both of them tumble and twist over each other, putting them in to arm bars, chokeholds, and sleepers, only to be broken free to start the process over again, she silently said to herself,

"Laaaady Boner..."

Finally, Axton managed to flip over Kurt and wrap his legs around his, grabbing a hold of Kurt's feet and putting it securely under his arm to insure he wasn't going anywhere, he began to pull back on the muscles. Axton's got him, no way out of this one.

"Say it!" Axton said keeping a firm grip on Kurt's leg,

"Alright! Uncle!" Kurt yelled finally giving in to Axton's hold.

Axton quickly let go of Kurt so he wouldn't hurt him anymore than he needed to, both of them stood up and leaned against a side of the walls, gasping for air and wiping sweat so it wouldn't get into their eyes and such.

"Whooo!" Kurt said "Haven't had that much physical conditioning since the time I wrestled Knuckle Dragger!" He then walked over to Axton and patted his shoulder "Thanks, I needed that," He said before walking towards the door, the one that had Maya standing in front of.

"Excuse me," He said politely to Maya, which she did with no hesitation, leaving Maya and a exhausted Axton in the exercise room.

"Hey," Axton said hunched over with his hands on his knees gasping for air, "I won,"

"You sure did," Maya said walking up to Axton, by this time Axton caught up with his heart beat and began to settle down. He grabbed a rag that was hanging from the pull-up bar, and wiped up his face. He lifted the rag from his face to see a blushing Maya looking at his largely defined body.

"Yes Maya," Axton said lifting her chin up with his hand "My pecs are down there," He said before kissing her lips and walking out of the room to find his shirt and backpack.

_'Yup'_ Maya thought to herself _'Pandora ain't that bad'_

* * *

Kurt put on his glasses and resumed working on his chip, now that he was in a more relaxed mindset. He looked over to Gaige, who was sleeping on her bed silently. Kurt put a little smile on his face while looking at Gaige sleep, she looked so relaxed, so peaceful, so...cute.

_'I'm not lettin' you down Doc, even if the AI takes advantage of me_' Kurt thought to himself. He then put his soldering tool down and said to Gaige who was still asleep,

"Hey Gaige, wake up.."

Gaige then tossed on the other sighed of her mattress and moaned out

"C'mon Daaaad, it's Saturdaaay," Burying her face in the pillow, which caused Kurt to laugh slightly loud.

"I can assure you Gaige that I'm not your father, and the fact that it's not Saturday, rather a Wednesday." He said looking at Gaige.

After she realized what she said, she tossed on the other side to look at where that voice was coming from. It was Kurt she saw in the room, the person who opened up on her and told what was going down with his life. He was shirtless, with some hints of sweat, wearing pants, and a pair of glasses.

_'God...those glasses..'_ Gaige thought _'They make him look sooooo handsome'_

"Mornin'" Kurt said looking at Gaige, who was still on her bed at this point in time,

"M...Morning Kurt," Gaige stuttered out looking at Kurt in awe, before standing up and putting on her goggles then walking over to where Kurt was.

"What'cha workin' on?" Gaige asked looking at the little chip Kurt was soldering,

"Doing what I promised, rewiring the info chip so it can actually be one." He answered finalizing the process. "Not the makeup kinda girl are you?" He then asked pointing the soldering tool to her face,

"Meh," Gaige said "A little here and there, but nothing too overkill,"

"A littles fine," Kurt said "It covers up the true beauty of people,"

Gaige felt a little heat come up to her cheeks at that statement, she vowed never to put too much makeup on her face ever again, she'd live by Kurt's statement of true beauty, some makeup is fine, but not too much.

"Welp," Kurt said standing up, revealing his abdominals and such "Chip's all done, we can get this plugged in to let us know where Lilith exactly is,"

"Cool!" Gaige said looking at the chip "How long did that take you to do?"

"20 Minutes..Tops" Kurt said "There was a delay since I had a boxing match with Axton in the other room,"

"Wow," Gaige said, he knew how to completely rewire a computerized device to do a completely separate task? In less that half an hour? This man was truly remarkable, in more ways than one.

"You got that thing ready? Great" Axton said looking at the chip "We best keep moving to the blockade, I'll go wake up the others,"

"Axton?" Tannis said walking into the room "Have you seen my Macaroni stethoscope? I seemed to a misplac-" She was cut off at the sight of Kurt, she put her hands on her hips and said to him,

"Kurt,"

"Tannis," Kurt replied

"You two know each other?" Gaige asked

"Yeah, she was doing volunteer work for Hyperion while I was head of the research team," Kurt explained

"And I hated it as much as you did!" Tannis added "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm scheduled to have a meeting with a ghost," Before walking out of the room

"Still batshit insane as ever..." Kurt said shaking his head slightly.

Axton walked upstairs to give Sal and Zer0 a tap on the shoulder, for them to wake up which they did. Salvador stood up from his bed, cracking his back and twisting his neck around,

"Couldn't tink of a hilarious way to wake me up eh?" Sal said looking at Axton

"See me after the war..I got plenty ideas," Axton replied laughing a bit,

"While they are funny / They are sometimes bothersome / Taking up some time" Zero said cracking his neck

"Yeah, yeah," Axton said "Kurt finished up the chip, so we can get going"

"Alright! Leet do theese!" Sal said walking downstairs, to met up with Kurt, Gaige and Maya.

* * *

All 6 of them walked outside and begun to head for the fast travel station that was located in the center of the town. There was usually commotion that was going on around town, mostly about Roland's untimely death and the fact that some people may have a severe case of 'super cancer' as they say.

"Alright..Arid Nexus," Axton said "Lets get goi-"

"Hey! Wanna hear the new dubstep song I wrote?!" Claptrap said to the 6 of them "Wub wub wub wub wub wub wub wub wub wub wub wub wub wub wub wub wub wub wub wub wub wub wub wub wub wub wub DROP wub wub wub wub wub wub wub wub wub wub wub "

With each 'wub' Claptrap yelled, he made Kurt more and more frustrated, until he finally snapped. He walked over to Claptrap and picked him up by his singular wheel and held him upside-down saying in a very deep, almost robotic sound,

"**I. HATE. DUBSTEP**."

he said coldly before giving Claptrap a solid poerful uppercut to his body piece, sending him skyrocketing in the air .

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" He screamed while flying in the air, ending up landing in a garbage dumpster that was on the other side of town "Owww..." He silently muffled under the dumpster.

Axton walked up to Kurt looking at the Dumpster Claptrap landed in

"Damn...Nice punch, Kurt," he said baffled at the power Kurt had in his arm,

"Yeah...That's only a quarter of my full strength," He said looking at his arms.

"Wow.." Kurt said "Love to see a boxing match between you and Brick!"

"Who's Brick?" Kurt asked looking at him

"You'll find out eventually," Axton said patting him on the shoulder "Let's get going,"

* * *

**AN: Hey guys! once again thanks for voting on the fate of Kurt! It really was awesome to see so much support over the fanbase! Anyway I'm going to do a Q and A so any questions you wanna ask me, leave in the review, or just PM me if you wanna! I'll post them on the front page so everybody can see!**

**POP QUIZ TIME: How many chapters are references to songs? Remember, they don't have to be the title, and you gotta say the song and artist name for it to count! Winner gets a shout out and a free roundhouse kick, courtesy of Norris enterprises! Leave your answer in the review and see if you won! **

**Spanks!**

**-LT**


	17. Chapter 16: Sting Like a Bee

**AN: Hey guys! New chapter! WOOOOOOOOOO!**

**Thanks for the continued support you guys have been giving me over the course of this fanfic! I will continue to post new chapters and such when I get the chance! Without you this wouldn't have been possible!****  
**

**Also I wanna give a shoutout to PurpleNinjaCat278 for winning the 'Name the Artist' Contest! Also I still have brain damage, Chuck is just spell-checking stuff for me so it isn't irredable... Make sure to check out her page for other fanfics! And check out mine too (*Whispers* But their not as good as hers...)!**

* * *

Chapter 16

"Hmmmm...Feels like we've been here before..." Salvador pondered looking around the purple volcanos and the disintegrating mountains.

"Because we have dumbass..." Axton said facepalming himself

Kurt was just looking around and the place that was caked in slag and Eridium. He felt that he was entirely to blame for the situation. Although the place would still look like crap...But now that crap was covered in more crap...And it was his fault. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and pulled one out and placed his lips over it. He then pulled out his lighter from the other pocket, sparking it into flames then holding over the cigarette, until it caught flame.

"Smoking is bad for you, you know?" Gaige said looking at him taking a drag.

"And I thought you were supposed to be the 'Rebel at Heart'" Kurt said using his hands as quotation marks.

Gaige then looked down at the ground then thought to herself, she was in this godforsaken planet. She probably had to make the most of it, and to prove her anarchist behavior to Kurt, win his heart maybe?

"Gimme one then!" Gaige said reaching for the pack,

"No, get your own damn smokes!" Kurt said laughing

"Fine." Gaige pouted crossing her arms like a little girl "Keep them..."

Kurt chuckled to himself, he then threw the whole pack along with the one he had in his mouth off the cliff, much to Gaige's confusion and distaste.

"I don't smoke...cigarettes.." Kurt smiled.

"Then what do you smoke?" Gaige said looking at him, only to be followed with a devilish grin. Axton caught on and laughed at that.

"Just wait when Mordecai gets back," Axton laughed "The shit he has will knock you off your ass! I mean, it can-OW!" Axton said rubbing his arm after getting punched by Maya,

"Don't." Maya said scolding him

"Heheh," Axton chuckled to himself "Whatever... Let's get goin."

* * *

The vault hunters made their way towards the Arid Nexus to finally find out where Lilith is, and to stop Jack, the particular order didn't necessarily matter at this point. Whatever info they could squeeze out would help. They were making their way towards the info stockade, when Kurt stopped and asked the hunters.

"Hey," Kurt said "Could we make a little stop somewhere? I gotta see if I can contact my Dad,"

"Well sure..But why?" Axton asked looking at him

"We're gonna need all the help we can get. My dad could dispatch some troops to help us out maybe.." Kurt explained "Plus...I kinda wanna let him know I'm still alive."

"Alright," Axton said shrugging his shoulders "But where could you contact him?"

"I know just the place.." Kurt said smiling and proceeding on.

The Vault hunters proceeded towards the house that was standing on several stilts with a giant antennae protruding from the roof. There was an elevator that leads up to the house, which was rather large.

"What's in there?" Gaige asked looking at the house.

"You'll see," Kurt said walking towards the house "Just wait here until I say so. I gotta pay a visit to somebody."

Kurt then pressed the button on the elevator to make it ascend, leaving the other 5 five Vault hunters on the bottom.

"Why couldn't we go up with him?" Gaige asked Axton, which he replied

"Got no clue, maybe he's gotta-"

"This is Hunter Hellquist coming live from Pandora!" Hellquist said over the ECHO cutting him off.

"Goddamnit, THIS guy again..." Salvador said letting out a groan,

"Who's this?" Gaige asked Axton again

"Just some rambling douchebag spewing lies to propagandize the people of Pandora against us..." He answered

"We are still on the look out for the mass murder Axton the Commando who has reportedly kicked 7 puppies last week and fed 5 kittens to the grinder in Overlook! he is also responsible for the death of the lovable and stern Mr. Blake! He also assisted the other savages in killing Jack's own daughter among other crimes such as aiding a Siren's escape!" Hellquist said

"I don't even like cats..." Axton said quietly.

"We would like to remind you that his bounty is 800 Billion dollars! Highest bounty of the Vault hunters! We also offering a reward for Dr. Kurtis Thatcher for Malpractice and being an asshole and slacker! Oh...It...It... seems somebodies at my door...Uh...hello?"

"Hello..." A voice said over the ECHO.

"NO! NOO!" Hellquist screamed before getting thrown out of the tower he was broadcasting from, landing headfirst on the ground, snapping his neck right in front of the Vault Hunters. It cause Gaige to jump and scream, Maya to jump a bit and cover her mouth, and Axton to cringe a bit at the pain Hellquist had to go through, but his sympathy was short lived because he remembered all the stuff he said about him.

"Okay!" Kurt yelled "You guys can come up now!" Before walking back into the building.

Axton took one more look at Hellquist's mangled corpse before walking over to the elevator that led up to the observatory. Gaige looked at Hellquist's body and moved it around with her foot, making sure that he was actually dead. If she was to live on Pandora, she would have to get used to stuff like this.. She then caught up with the rest of them to head up the elevator.

"Why couldn't we come up with you?" Axton asked looking at Kurt

"Oh, I just wanted to kill him myself," Kurt laughed to himself, causing Axton to roll his eyes.

"Okay, so," Kurt began "I can rewire this tower to broadcast a transmission to my Dad's location, hopefully he picks it up,"

Kurt then opened up the transmission box from the side and spliced and placed wires in separate places so they could do that task he talked about, contacting his father. The screen began to show a fuzzy picture of a man in the camera.

"Hello? Albert O'Malley Thatcher, come in. This is Kurtis Malcolm Thatcher, do you read?" Kurt said looking at the camera that was posted on top of the screen.

"Hello? Who the hell is that? Your pictures all shitty!" The man buzzed in.

"Dad? Is that you?" Kurt asked

"Kurtis...? Is it really you!?' He said, now that the picture was coming in clear. The Vault hunters looked at the screen to a see a man approximately in his 50s wearing a army beret with a military trench coat on. He was wearing several badges and medals on his chest as well.

"Well I'll be damned Kurt, I knew you were alive all those years!" His dad said happy to see his boy again.

"Hey Dad.." Kurt said smirking at the screen

"Are you still on that Butthole of a planet yet? Also, what the fuck happened to your arms boy?" His dad said looking at each of his shoulders

"Experiment gone wrong...Look, we need some TITAN soldiers and sets of armor shipped to Pandora ASAP. Were trying to overthrow Hyperion!" Kurt said

"Well, if it's for the sake of taking down that rambling cock-eater then it's alright with me! I'll dispatch a small company of TITANs to help you out with your little problem. Should take about a day to get there, that fine?" His dad asked

"Yeah, should be fine.." Kurt said

"Okay, I've called in the order. I'll see you tomorrow I guess. Good to know you're still alive, son." His dad said looking at him,

"Yeah...Kurtis signing off," He said before cutting off the transmission.

"TITAN?" Maya asked "Wasn't that just a prototype program?"

"No. My dad reinvented the TITAN program after my Grandfather passed." Kurt said "I'll show you a picture of Venom Company."

"Venom Company?" Axton asked

"Yeah, It's a division of the military, some of my friends are actually in that branch." Kurt said to Axton before pulling out a chip and inserting it into the computer, pulling out a file.

Kurt was right, these soldiers were nothing Axton has ever seen before in his life. They were about 8.5 feet tall and had muscles the size of heads. They were plated in what seemed like a high-tech armor permutation with pouches for magazines, grenades and such. They were carrying a Thatcher armaments weapon that looked sleek, and powerful at the same time.

"Whoa..." Salvador said "Those are some beeeg soldiers..."

"Yeah they are, let's head to the Info stockade...again," Axton said sadistically.

* * *

As they made their way to the door to get into the Nexus, was blocked off. Possibly so they couldn't get information from the tower. Jack sealed their only way for getting info about Lilith's whereabouts.

"Damnit!" Axton yelled "Now how the hell are we gonna get there?"

"Hmmm," Kurt said looking around "Maybe we could use those slag pumps to crawl our way through there...that could work."

"Slab!" Brick buzzed in on the ECHO device "Mordecai and I were successful in stealing a big-ass barge from Hyperion, we could use that as support for our final assault,"

"That's good," Axton said through the microphone "We've ordered a small company of super soldiers to help us with the assault too."

"Are they badasses?" Brick asked

"Yeah...Like 10 feet tall badass," Axton said to Brick through the ECHO

"Perfect..." Brick said "Jack don't stand a chance.."

"False, Piss-for-brains." Jack said through the ECHO "You seriously think I'm gonna let you into my security info tower that easily? You might as well just give up Axton. I've won!"

"_Axton..."_ A voice said in his mind

"_What? Who the hell's this?"_ Axton thought to himself

"_It's Lilith...For some reason I can contact you and nobody else..." _Lilith said in his mind _"Axton...Promise me something, please. As long as you got a bullet left in the chamber, you make sure that motherfucker pays for what he's done to Roland...Make him pay.."_

"_Don't worry.."_ Axton thought in his mind_ "I've got my own reason why I want Jack dead..."_

"_Why?"_ Lilith asked him,

Axton paused for a minute then finally said,

'_He's my brother..."_

"_W-What?!" _Lilith said in disbelief _"How the?!"_

"_He's done me more wrong than you think...Just know I'll make him pay for what he's done to _y_ou, me and everybody on this planet..."_ Axton thought

"_Okay...Just promise me you'll make him suffer.."_ Lilith said to Axton

"_I promise..." _Axton thought

"_And don't feel bad about Angel Axton...Jack pulled the plug way before you came along to free her..."_ Lilith reassured him

"Don't you...say anything...About my daughter..." Jack said coldly over the ECHO

"Why shouldn't I?" Axton said "Why shouldn't I talk about my niece that you enslaved to do your own will?!"

"Shut up...Shut up..." Jack said slowly over the ECHO

"Now I can see why Samantha would fucking hang herself from her own goddamn neck! She figured out how much of a greedy selfish bastard you truly are John!"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Jack screamed over the ECHO, now completely furious at Axton

"MAKE ME YOU FUCKING COWARD!" Axton screamed back at Jack "COME AND GET ME YOU FUCKING PUSSY!"

Jack's deep breaths could be heard from the other side of the ECHO. This is the first time he's gotten that angry in a VERY long time.

"...In due time Axton...In due time..." Jack said calming down a bit...

For the first time, Maya was scared of how Axton looked, his face was red from the anger and frustration, and his eyes could seemingly melt people to the ground with his infinite gaze. He looked like he's just slaughtered a hundred bandits and is asking for more bloodshed. He looked pissed as hell. She walked up to Axton and put her hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay Axton..." She said softly "Calm down..It's okay..."

"Just..." Axton began "...I'm fine Maya. Just needed to yell at my asshole brother that's all. I'm okay Maya..."

'Okay..." Maya said softly once again looking into his greenish hazel eyes.

"Guys!" Kurt said "I found a pipe that can lead into the Nexus!"

As the other 5 Vault hunters made their way to the pipe Kurt was talking about, they saw him scooping up handfuls of sand into a capsule he had and sealing it up.

"What's that for?" Gaige asked looking at him

"You'll see" Kurt said looking back at Gaige

"So the question is...how will we break through this pipe?" Axton asked looking at the solid steel pipe that flowed with the Slag compound.

"Maybe I can punch through it..." Kurt said analyzing the pipes thickness, causing Gaige to scoff.

"Pfffttt, there's no way you can punch through that! That's gotta be made of solid Tita-"

There was a loud banging noise heard as Kurt's hand thrusted through the very powerful alloy like a hot knife through butter. The other vault hunters looked in shock while witnessing this.

"-nium.." Gaige said finish completely dumbfounded that Kurt's arms were so strong that he could easily punch through 5-inch thick titanium alloy.

Kurt then grabbed a piece of the pipe and ripped it off using brute force, creating a rather large hole letting the Slag ooze out from the pipe that was carrying it to the Nexus.

"Gross..." Axton said looking at the purple compound, "Also nice punch Kurt..."

"I hope that doesn't dissuade you from boxing me again.." Kurt laughed looking at him, causing Axton to look at him and smirked,

"Fuck no.." Axton said to Kurt.

* * *

**AN: Hey guys! Another chapter done and over with! I've finally succumbed to peer pressure and joined tumblr! Follow me if ya like .com . **

**POP QUIZ: Who used the term that is the title of Chapter 15 and 16 to describe his fighting style? Guess right and you win a shoutout or a free roundhouse kick from Norris llc.!  
**

**Thanks for reading! Please spread the word and review this, They help a lot! And with more reviews, the more ideas I can get (despite me having a pretty concrete plot of the story already). PM me if you've got any questions and such about this story. Thanks again!  
**

**-LT  
**


	18. Chapter 17: The Thrill is Gone

**AN: Hey guys! So if you have'nt guess already, the refrence of the two last chapters is a saying that the three-time Heavy weight Champion boxer Muhammad Ali said to describe his fighting style. Grats to starfighter-105, Drake Williams, and GJ115 for guessing correctly! Sorry for the long wait you guys for this chapter. It's long as hell so hopefully it'll be worth the wait for you guys! **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 17

The Vault Hunters then made their way into the pipe via the hole that Kurt just punched in. Most of the slag was drained out due to the pressure breakout that Kurt caused. The slag was completely revolting. It gave off a foul unpleasant smell that was similar to rotting flesh that was left out for 5 weeks, then soaked in wet dog. The hunters were trudging through 3-inch deep slag, whilst gagging and coughing at the same time, mostly Gaige was gagging.

"This stuff is SO gross!" Maya said looking at the stuff she was stepping in.

"Ewwwww, it's soooo smelly!" Gaige said plugging her nose with one hand while using her other hand as a fan in an attempt to get rid of the foul smell.

"All that's missing is a narration from Morgan Freeman..." Axton said looking around the pipes trying to breathe through his mouth, which caused Kurt to laugh

"Yeah seriously!" Kurt said concurring with Axton walking up to him.

"Axton the Commando crawled to freedom through 500 yards of slag-smelling odor I can't even imagine. Or maybe I just don't want to." Kurt said imitating Morgan Freeman narrating Andy Dufresne's escape from Shawshank Prison, which caused Axton to laugh and return with

"500 Yards," Axton said imitating Morgan Freeman "That's the length of 5 football fields, just shy of half a mile," Both of them shared a laugh together before being looked at funny by Maya.

"Who's Morgan Freeman?" Maya asked looking at Axton at Kurt weird. Both of them exchanged glances. How was she supposed to know who a 21st century actor was when she stayed in a Monastery her whole life?

"Ehhhh, nevermind," Axton said turning around to continue to trudge through the thick eriduim runoff.

* * *

They continued their small pilgrimage through the slag pipe until Kurt could see the pipe began to make a sharp turn. Maybe they've reached the inside of the blockade already.

"I think I found our exit!" Kurt echoed through the pipe as he punched another solid hole, then plunging his other fist into right next to the whole he made, then grabbing the broken edges, he ripped that piece of the pipe off to reveal a scaffolding that led off to a ladder that presumably led to the other side of the Nexus.

"Found it!" Kurt said looking back at them "We just gotta climb that ladder!" He then said pointing to the nearest ladder he found.

One by one, the Vault hunters climbed out of the pipe, breathing sighs of relief now that they didn't have to breath that foul stench any more, at least until they were shot by a slag gun or something.

"Dear merciful God thank you!" Gaige said between heavy breaths., causing Kurt to laugh at Gaiges over exaggeration "Oh come on! Could have been worse!" Kurt said looking at her funny. Gaige finally caught up with her breaths and stood up, wiping the slag that covered her striped stockings.

"We can use that ladder to get to the Nexus. Let's move." Kurt said climbing up the ladder, followed by the other 5 hunters.

* * *

It looked exactly the same as Axton remembered. Fyrestone was covered in the slag compound, decomposing left and right, with junk piled up on nearly every part of the now ghost town. Nothing has changed. Axton could still remember where he perched on the cliffside to provide involuntary sniper support for the four origional Vault hunters. It was all coming back to him...again

"Did this look the same three years ago?" Maya asked walking up to Axton, which he turned around and replied "Sorta, minus the Slag and stuff."

"Hey..." Kurt said "I kept a weapon stash of Thatcher arms in a drop zone near the Nexus. We should go grab it."

"Is it really worth it?" Axton asked looking at him

"Oh yeah.." Kurt said smiling "Their standard issue pistol is worth about 300,000 dollars!" He said causing Axton to widen his eyes.

"Mother of...Lead the way!" Axton said stepping aside, allowing Kurt to pass in front of him.

They walked approximately 300 yards from the Nexus going near a corroded bus stop, which was missing a roof. Kurt then walked behind it, feeling around the ground to see if he could find the metal piece he used to indicate his stash zone. As seen as felt a piece of metal protruding from the ground, he began to wipe off the sand that covered that area, to reveal a very large chest that had "Thatcher Armaments" painted across it.

"There it is.." Kurt said standing up "We just gotta get some air support to carry this back to Sanctuary, it's pretty damn big and heavy,"

"No problem," Axton said picking up his Echo and switching the frequency to Brick's.

"Brick, we need a buzzard to pick up heavy cargo at my location. When can you be here?" Axton asked Brick, which he responded.

"My Slab's are patrolling the area near there, so I can get one of them to pick it up for ya. What is it?" Brick asked

"It's a weapon cache," Axton replied.

"Great! My Slabs will be there shortly! Watch the skies!" Brick said turning off his ECHO.

As soon as he turned off his ECHO, a loud whooshing noise was heard over the mountains that gradually became louder as the second flew by. A buzzard came from the distance dropping a steel cable to catch the cache with it's giant snare.

"Alright Slab!" Brick said through the ECHO "Take this to Sanctuary, and don't let me catch you in the city!"

"Alright Mr. Slab King!" The Marauder stuttered out picking up the cache. and flying off to the distance, heading for the floating city.

"He better drop it off there," Kurt said looking at the Buzzard

"Don't worry," Axton said reassuring him "Brick has our backs."

The 6 hunters ascended up the elevator (again) onto the main highway that lead to the Info stockade, only to be stopped by the armies of the Hyperion forces. Jack wasn't going to let them into his Nexus of Knowledge this time around. If they could access the controls to the information stockade, they could wreck Jack's plans for domination of this planet.

"Shit!" Axton yelled taking cover behind a busted car along with the other 5 Hunters "There's too many of them!"

"Don't worry," Kurt said "I've got this!" Him and Gaige were taking cover behind a piece of asphalt that was torn up.

Gaige then looked at his eyes. His green-blue-grayish eyes began to...bleed.

"Kurt.." Gaige said quietly (and concerned) looking at Kurt's eyes "Your eyes are..."

"I know," Kurt said interrupting her.

Kurt's Arms began to make strange noise as he stood up, he held his hand in front of him. One of the soldiers saw this as an opportunity to finish off the relatively good doctor. He loaded up his rocket and fired it in his general direction. As the rocket whooshed towards Kurt, his hands began to glow faintly of red.

"Kurt NO!" Gaige screamed looking at Kurt from the cover. The rocket zoomed at high velocities towards him, but was stopped, by his hand. The rocket was caught in mass-spectrometer beam that stopped it dead in it's tracks, seemingly levitate before his hands, leaving the other hunters to look at him dumbfounded.

"Whaaaa?" Maya said quietly and in total disbelief while looking at him. Kurt didn't look back at their direction, he simply looked back at the soldier who was equally dumbfounded as him.

"Catch." He said hurling the rocket back at the soldier, which blew him to smithereens. The soldiers looked at the man who was blown away by his own rocket. They wanted to run so bad, but the hand stand and fight the bandits, it was their job (And so they can finish their comic collection). They began to fire their rockets at Kurt, only to have them get deflected and sent hurling back at the soldiers. Not even Ion blast could harm him, he would just catch in and send it right back to loaders who shot them. It was total mayhem, Kurt was annihilating everybody with his bare hands, moving forward dodging bullets and reflecting back grenades, rockets and such. The smoke finally cleared as all of the robots and soldiers were eradicated by Kurt. He must've killed at least 50 soldiers and 30 Robots. The five others slowly stood up from the cover to see Kurt took care of every last one.

"Hoooooly Shit!" Axton said wide eyed at the utter chaos Kurt caused.

"Wow...soo...anarchist..." Gaige said looking at the total carnage he caused.

"Yep..." Kurt said looking back at them with blood trickling from his eyes.

"How did you do that?!" Maya said looking at him.

"Oh. Well in my spare time wandering Pandora, I was able to install Zero energy Mass spectrometer manipulation fields on my arms." He said holding his hands up.

"Sooooo, gravity hands?" Axton said walking up to him

"In monkey terms, yes." Kurt replied, which caused Axton to scoff

'_Cheeky Bastard...' _Axton thought to himself.

As they made their way towards the info blockade, Gaige caught up with Kurt and walked beside him.

"Hey...So yeah, your a super badass and all...but why were your eyes bleeding?" Gaige asked motioning around his eyes, which he wiped up before continuing.

"It's a reaction from the A.I." Kurt explained

"A.I.?" Gaige asked looking at him, causing Kurt to sigh.

"It's the cost I gotta pay for having these arms. When my arms were installed, they had to put an artificial intelligence inside of me, to help me control my hands. But it's flawed. It'll bind with the preliminary emotion the user had before entering the machine. And remain so until it dies" Kurt explained

"Which was?" Gaige asked

"Anger," Kurt replied. "My hate and resentment for Jack's cruel acts fuel my AI with a persistent rage that I've manage to slightly suppress over the years. He's A nasty one that AI..."

"Wow...So that's.." Gaige said only to be interrupted by Kurt,

"Yes...My eyes bleed because that's my AI trying to take over..." Kurt explained.

"Why can't you just shut it off?" Gaige asked trivially.

"It's not that simple Gaige..." Kurt explained again "The AI is a living tissue, a parasite that latches on to your nervous system. To try and remove the organism would be extremely dangerous. There's a slim to none chance you could survive it. It anybody touches the back of my neck while I'm angry...The parasite will latch on to that new host... Poisoning their minds with the rage I've built up over the years. Removing the parasite from that host, is even more difficult, due to the host not being able to control the parasite as I would. The person would most likely die..." Kurt said

"Wow..." Gaige said "Man, that's heavy..."

"Yeah...It's heavy alright.." Kurt said

The 6 of them finally made it to the top of the tower, killing more and more guards stationed inside of the building. The computer was in sight, and Axton was just edging to find out where Jack kept Lilith.

"Axton, you can do the honors." Kurt said handing him the chip he kept in his pocket.

"Alright...So tell me Jack," Axton said putting the chip "Where the fuck are you hiding?"

"Center of the Eridium Blight..." Kurt said "Why didn't I think of that?'

They stared at the screen seeing the red dot that pointed near the Eridium Blight off to the side. All it would take would be enough firepower to punch through Jack's defenses, and killing Jack. Axton liked that last part of that idea the best.

"Let's head back to Sanctuary, got work to do there." Axton said pulling the chip from the computer.

* * *

The fast travel station dropped them off at the Perce Station named after the fallen lieutenant of the Crimson Raiders who was shot in the head by Jack (Apparently her face was all like "PPPPFTHH" when she exploded). The cargo was dropped off right next to station, just as the buzzard was instructed to do so. Kurt decided he'll deal with it tomorrow or something.

"Sooooo," Kurt said pulling out the capsule that contained the sand in it. "I understand you guys have a little tradition involving the chemical Tetrahydrocannabinol..."

'Yeah..." Axton said rubbing the back of his neck "Before we go on the raid, we usually toke up or something like that."

The 6 of them walked back into the Raiders HQ, to see Mordecai and Brick looking over the projector. Both of the stood up straight when they saw Kurt walk through the door.

"Who's this?" Mordecai asked looking at Kurt

"Dr. Kurtis Thatcher, at your service." Kurt said extending out his hand

"Mordecai," He said shaking Kurt's hand "That's Brick," he then said pointing to Brick, which prompted Brick to raise his hand as a sign of a nonchalant greeting.

"When will we get those supplies Axton?" Mordecai asked shifting his attention to Axton.

"Well, supposed to get here tomorrow." Axton explained

"Okay..." Mordecai said "We get the supplies, then prepare for our final assault on Jack, can't wait...But until then.." He then said smiling and pulling out a little bag of green bud "We uphold the tradition..."

"Just a sec!" Kurt said running into the other room, grabbing his borworch from his backpack. He then put the sand in a secluded area of the capsule, then began to incinerate the sand, creating a glass, vase like apparatus, with two hole protruding from it. He created another small, tube like thing that fit perfectly into the vase, along with a little circular vase thing he referred to as a "Bowl Piece". After the molding was completely he pulled the capsule off the glass sculpture and blew on it to cool it down, until the redness finally subsided before presenting it to Mordecai.

"Gentlemen.." Kurt said holding up the glass piece "The Bong..."

It was a work of art, a solid foot and a half tall apparatus that was seamlessly made, no cracks, imperfections, nothing.

"Wow...Haven't had one of those since high school..." Axton said looking at the glass piece.

"Damn...How'd you know how to do that?" Mordecai said pointing at it.

"Meh...Just something I picked up over the years." Kurt said shrugging his shoulders and putting the bong on on the table. Maya walked over to it, looked at it for a few seconds, then looked at Kurt.

"What's a bong?" She asked looking at Axton.

"Remember those joints?" Axton explained to Maya,

"Yeah?" she said standing up straight again

"It's like that...But packs a bigger punch and lasts longer, plus it's less harsh on your lungs..." Axton explained looking at Kurt's handiwork, which was being filled with water at this point in time by Kurt, eager to test it out.

"Dude...your weed...first hit's yours," Kurt said handing the bong to Mordecai, which he declined.

"No thanks man, your bong, you hit it amigo!" Mordecai said looking at it.

"Pack the bowl then," Kurt said handing Mordecai the bowl piece

"Kay then," Mordecai said breaking the bud into smaller chunks and putting them in the round circular dish with a small hole on the bottom of it. All the while Maya and Gaige were just looking at it, eager to see what happens with this "Bong" thing.

"Here ya go." Mordecai said handing the bowl back to Kurt, which was packed to the brim. Kurt then attached that to the glass pipe piece, which was submerged in water.

"Alright, light it up!" Kurt said putting his lips over the large glass piece, holding a lighter over the part containing the weed on it, proceeding to inhale, letting the bubbles filled with smoke arise and pop continuously building up smoke in the chamber, until the bong was seemingly colored white. A couple of snaps were head from the bowl piece and small chunks of embered trees passed through the 'Downstem'. Kurt then pulled the bowl piece away from the pipe, inhaling as hard as he could getting the smoke all inside of his system. He held his breath for a few seconds before releasing it into the air. He froze for a moment before coughing a bit.

"Goddamn dude!' Kurt said handing Mordecai the bong "Axton was right, that shit is POTENT!"

Mordecai chuckled a bit, and Gaige looked at Kurt in awe. "Wow...that was sooooo cool!"

"Your turn Mordecai!" Kurt said

"With pleasure!" Mordecai said

He did the exact same thing as Kurt. Holding the flame over the bowl, building up the smoke in his system, until it snapped. He pulled the carburetor, and inhaled all the smoke, holding it in for a few seconds then releasing it into the air...

"Damn..." Mordecai said "That's smooth...Axton here ya go" He then said handing the bong to Axton.

"Shoot..." Axton said putting his lips over the bong, then proceeding to inhale on it, whilst keeping a flame on the piece, then finally sucking all the smoke in, letting out a few coughs before blowing the smoke out.

"Draws like a pencil.." Axton said between coughs.

The circulation continued with Salvador and Brick, who both took considerable size hits. After all, they were relatively big people, so it probably took a lot to get them stoned. Finally, the circulation came to Maya and Gaige. Zero couldn't smoke because of his helmet, despite him wanting to.

"Can I try?" Gaige said looking at the bong.

"You sure?" Kurt asked "Strong shit..."

"I think I got it..." Gaige said

"That's what Maya said..." Axton said "What do you think, pumpkin?"

"DO NOT. Call me pumpkin." Maya warned Axton

"Hon?"

"No."

"Sweetie?"

"No."

"Sug?"

"No."

Axton paused for a minute, trying to think of another lovey-dovey nickname for Maya. She does call him 'handsome' sometimes so it only seems fair.

"Oh!" Axton said "Babe"

"NO." Maya said glaring at Axton. He then let out a sign and finally said said

"Maya?"

"Yes."

"Fine..." Axton muttered "I'm high as fuck right now..."

"So can I try?" Gaige said looking at Kurt.

"Fine, but go easy on it.." Kurt said with his bloodshot eyes, she noticed Kurts eyes were seemingly red. Was he angry again?

"Why are your eyes red?" Gaige asked looking a Kurt's eyes, which caused him to grin devilishly.

"You'll see..." Kurt said "Now out your mouth over that piece and just inhale. I'll carb it for you since it's your first time,"

Gaige did exactly what Kurt instructed and began to inhale, while Kurt held the flame over the weed, keeping an ember while she sucked in the smoke, he finally carbed it and let her inhale the smoke. She coughed out the smoke and proceeded to do so for a very long time.

"Good job, Gaige" Kurt raid rubbing her shoulder "Take pride in that!"

"Wow," Gaige coughed out "I feel...funny..."

"Here we go..." Axton said smiling

"I feel like...I feel, Like I can conquer the world!" Gaige shouted, causing everybody to laugh.

"Gimme that bong." Maya ordered Axton motioning with her hands in the 'gimme gimme' fashion. "Yes, Ma'am," Axton said handing it to her.

She took relatively the same size hit. She was nearly new to this as Gaige was. Axton helped her carb the bong in the same sense as Kurt did. She coughed out all the smoke she inhaled, before giggling to herself lightly.

"Hahahha, conquer the world!? PFFFTTT HAHAHAHAH" She said before laughing uncontrollably on Axton's shoulder, she let out a small sigh and looked into Axtons eyes.

"Hey Axton?" Maya said not shifting her vision from his bloodshot eyes

"Yes, Maya?" He responded looking at her. She leaned in closer to Axton,

"You can call me 'babe' if you want..." Maya whispered in his ear.

"Meh...I like Maya better," Axton said smiling at her, only to be interrupted by Gaiges ranting,

"Whooooooo!" Gaige said "Let's watch a movie!"

"okay..." Kurt said laughing his ass off, along with Mordecai and Brick. This must've been the first time Axton's ever seen Brick laughing this much since he got here. All he could remember was it being one of the funniest things he's ever seen.

"Imma go get a TV," Kurt said walking down the steps to find one.

"We have a TV?" Axton asked looking at Mordecai,

"Nah Man..." Mordecai slurred out, sitting on a couch, nearly falling off.

"Kay I'm back, and I set up the TV downstairs." Kurt said walking up stairs with a stupid-looking grin on his face.

"Yayyy!" Gaige said happily running downstairs, leaving Mordecai bewildered and to ask him

"Where'd you find a TV?"

"Stole it from Marcus' store!" Kurt said laughing loudly, causing Mordecai to join in on his little laughter session.

Kurt then walked downstairs to see Gaige, sitting on the couch staring at the blank TV screen like she was just risen from her own grave.

"This is the best. Movie. Ever." Gaige said looking at the screen, which caused Kurt to laugh loudly

"Nothing's playing Gaige!" He laughed while stumbling over to the couch.

"Oh yeah!" Gaige said laughing so hard she was snorting, immediately covering her mouth. Why did she have to snort in front of Kurt.

"Did you just snort?" Kurt asked

"No!" Gaige said embarrassed,

"Well I think It's damned cute!" Kurt said taking a seat on the couch. Gaige was blushing extremely after hearing that statement. He just called something she's been embarrassed with her whole life cute? That meant something to her. He actually paid attention to her. It couldn't get better than this.

"Hey, what are you watching?" Axton asked walking down the steps with Maya by his side.

"Enter the Dragon." Kurt said, which caused Axton's eyes to slightly widen, despite them being pretty dilated at this point.

"No Way! That movie's awesome!" Axton said taking a seat on the couch, with Maya sitting (very) close to him.

'_Double Date?' _Gaige thought to herself. She has to tell Kurt how she truly felt about him soon. Nobody ever seemed to pay attention to her in real life, except her Dad. She wanted to tell him how thankful she is for have meeting him. She couldn't have asked for a better companion in this hellhole of a planet.

They've been watching the movie starring the greatest kung-fu legend who lived during the 21st century. He dealt lightning fast punches, kicks, and various karate moves that not even a camera running at 200 frames per second could catch. They were at the final fight between Bruce Lee and Han. Han was knocked down to the ground by Lee's sheer force. The camera zoomed up to Lee's face, and as quick as lightning, even before Han could act, Lee crescent kicked him across the face with force and speed similar to a gunshot, hell, it was probably as strong as one.

"Holy Shit!" Axton said baffled by the speed of his kick. "Imagine getting kicked by that!"

"You'd probably explode," Kurt said chuckling a bit "What do you think Gaige?"

Kurt didn't realize it, but Gaige has been asleep on his shoulder when Lee started fighting Han. She looked damned cute when she was sleeping Kurt thought. Something about her seemed so attractive. He decided that he'd ease up on the arm, make it seem more human like, and continue to watch the movie with Axton and Maya.

_'Best. Pillow. Ever._' Gaige thought as she nestled her head closer to Kurt's body, feeling the warmth he was giving off.

As soon as the movie was finished, Kurt decided not to wake up Gaige so she could go to sleep. He took his arms and put them under her legs and shoulders, then scooping her up into his arms while she was still asleep. He carried her over to her bed and placed her gently on the bed, making sure not to wake her up in the process. He pulled the covers over her shoulders so she would freeze to death (It got cold at night on Pandora).

"Goodnight Gaige," Kurt whispered in her ear.

Kurt then proceeded to walk upstairs, presumably to find a place where he could rest his eyes. Leaving Axton and Maya alone on the couch. Maya then curled up closer to Axton, "Why can't you carry me to my bed?" Maya asked looking at Axton, he laughed and said

"I did remember?" Axton said looking at Maya's beautiful eyes.

"Oh yeah..." Maya said quietly to herself.

Axton then looked at her a second then settled back down to watch the credits roll of the movie.

"That was an awesome movie.." Maya said snuggling in with Axton,

"It sure was..." Axton said quietly "You should go to sleep, got another big day tomorrow,"

"Kay..." Maya said quietly "Carry me..." She said smiling which caused Axton to groan

"Really?" Axton said grinning

"Yes." Maya said to Axton sternly.

"Fine..." Axton said faking his reluctance, he wanted to do this. He scooped her up in the same fashion as Kurt and carried her bridal style over to her bed. All the while he was hoping he'd be able to carry her bridal style someday...as a true bride...

He laid her down on the bed and pulled the covers over her shoulders. She snuggled up in the covers and let out a small grin.

"Still my Angel Axton..." Maya said quietly "Goodnight Handsome..."

"Yeah.." Axton said quietly as well "Goodnight Babe..." he said kissing her lips before heading back upstairs to begin to saw logs.

As soon as Axton got up to the final step, he was greeted by Kurt, Mordecai and the rest of the hunters packing another bowl in the bong Kurt just whipped up. They were all gathered around the holographic table so they could see how the bong could function.

"Bedtime Bongies!" Kurt said looking at Axton and handing him the glass vase with the lighter, all packed and ready to go. Axton took one look at the bong before laughing to himself.

"Shoot." Axton said before sparking the bowl and inhaling.

* * *

**An: Holy weed jokes Batman! You guys asked, and I gave you a chapter where they get high once again! I'll have to admit, it's quite fun to write the stoned dialogue for some of these scenes! If you're wondering why I chose Enter the Dragon as the stoney movie night is because of 3 simple reasons:**

**1. It has Bruce Lee  
**

**2. Bruce Lee was a bad-ass  
**

**3. Refer to points 1 and 2  
**

**Now that I knocked out another incredulously long chapter, I hope to post another one relatively soon. I'm trying to keep somewhat of a schedule so I don't leave people hanging and then ultimately hating my guts for being a lazy asshole for not keeping up to date with this story due to the eager audience.  
**

**POP QUIZ: What artist wrote the title to this chapter? Guess right and you'll win a shoutout or a roundhouse kick!  
**

**Please review and Fave if you enjoyed my story so far! It really helps!  
**

**Thanks!  
**

**-LT  
**


	19. Chapter 18: Fought With Sticks 'n Stones

**AN: What's up guys?**** Sorry I couldn't update sooner, I came down with the fever (103.4 O.O) and couldn't move a single muscle!** Hope this chapter will be worth the wait! I'll be updating soon, so stick around!

**Congrats to Avagantamos for guessing right on the 'Name the song' contest! Props to thou dude.**

**Well now I'm gonna shut up and let you guys enjoy this chapter.  
**

* * *

Chapter 18

Axton woke up from his slumber, only this time, he slept the whole night. Axton fluttered his eyes open to see Zero and Salvador were still asleep, Zero having a hologrammed Z on his face, and Salvador snoring rather loudly. He tilted his head to see Kurt was passed out on the floor right next to him, which he's sure is super comfortable for Kurt. Mordecai asleep on the couch his bottle barely in his grasp. He rubbed his eyes and sat up on his bed, and looked around the room. He found Brick was sleeping on a bed, clutching on a teddy bear, whilst sucking his thumb. Axton had to admit, it was funny as hell to see Brick like that, but he decided not to tell everybody. It's probably his secret, and if he told everybody, he was sure he would have to say bye-bye to his arms.

Axton rubbed his temples a bit, picking all of the eye crusts that was created over the night. He never slept this good since he had sex with Maya, which was the best night of his life. Although this was different. He didn't have any nightmares or anything like that. Instead, he dreamt about Her.

* * *

Axton could remember like it happened 5 minutes ago. Axton remembered dreaming about walking through a rather nice house., and heard a slightly sizzling from the kitchen. He tiptoed through the house until he heard the sizzle getting gradually louder. As he made it to the kitchen, he laid eyes upon a woman with blue hair, wearing his t-shirt and a pair of light-blue panties. He simply couldn't take eyes off the woman who was cooking breakfast for him.

'_Bacon...' _Axton thought to himself while smiling

For some reason, Axton wasn't wearing a shirt, assuming she was wearing his shirt, it's a dream. He couldn't simply take his eyes off the woman, as his eyes slowly shifted downwards, he heard her say,

"So how long have you been staring at my ass Axton?" Maya asked not shifting her attention towards the commando. Axton let out a small laugh and said

"How'd ya know?" He asked looking at her

"Shadow gives you away, and I thought you were military trained for this kind of stuff? Sloppy Axton, sloppy indeed..." Maya said looking back at him, using her spatula as a finger, moving it in a scolding fashion, while smiling at him.

"Almost as sloppy as you bacon cooking skills?" Axton replied smiling back at her

"Oh, shut up," Maya scoffed "Stupid little things won't cook properly..."

Axton then walked up to Maya, and wrapped his arms around her, softly grasping her hands while smelling her scent she gave off on her neck. She was a little surprised at first, letting off a little gasp, but settled down after figuring out Axton's body was touching hers. She found pleasure in this, as she rested her head on his neck.

"It's like this..." Axton whispered in her ear moving her hands shifting the slabs of meat around on the pan. He began to move in a rhythmic pattern, almost as it was a waltz. He moved a hand through her hair, stroking it while smelling it. He kissed her neck that sent shivers through her spine. Maya then turned off the stove that was cooking the bacon, she spun around and pulled Axton in for a passionate kiss.

* * *

'_Fuck if that doesn't come true, I'm gonna be pissed.'_ Axton thought to himself while standing up.

Axton then kneeled down to shake Kurt, "Hey dude, wake up," Axton said slapping his face lightly.

Kurt then let out a small moan while rolling around to rub his eyes.

"Uhhhhhhh, what's up?" Kurt slurred out looking at Axton

"So Mind telling me why you're sleeping on the floor?" Axton asked looking at Kurt and pointing at the ground.

"Dunno...Took a bongie...The fell sleep," Kurt said sitting up.

"Well...Not much you can do sleeping on the floor, we need to get you an actual bed dude."Axton said.

"Yeah...Gonna go work out...the open the weapons cache," Kurt said standing up,

"Alright...Think I'm gonna skip working out and wake up the others," Axton said back to Kurt

"Alright, meet me by the giant box when you're ready." Kurt said walking down the steps.

Axton began to follow Kurt, but then went their separate ways. Kurt went to work out, and Axton went to wake up the others.

Axton walked over to Maya, who was asleep on her bed. She was the best thing to happen to him in a while. He walked over to Maya and kneeled down beside her bedside and shook her shoulder lightly.

"Maya...wake up..." Axton said softly to his angel.

She fluttered her eyes open to see the only love of her life. She's never had the chance to love a person since she was forced to stay in a monastery her whole life, with little to no freedom.

"Good morning..." Maya said smiling at Axton.

"How'd you sleep?" Axton asked not taking her eyes off her.

"Mmmmmm, not too bad.." Maya said sitting up in her bed "How about you?" She then asked

"Slept like a rock..." Axton responded.

"Oh?" Maya said looking at him

"Well I'm sure you'd slept good too if you dreamt about Maya the Siren..." Axton said smiling

"Were you now?" Maya said suggestively

"Hell yeah.." Axton said kissing her lightly.

"Gonna go meet up with Kurt, apparently he's got weapons for us." Axton said standing up.

"Kay, I'll go wake up everybody else." Maya said standing up from her bed.

"Save Gaige for Kurt.." Axton laughed lightly

"I will.." Maya said looking back at him while smiling, then walking up the steps.

* * *

Kurt finished up the morning routine he usually did, which was relatively similar to Axton's except for a few minor changes.

He walked out of the room to see Gaige was still curled up on her bed, sleeping like a baby.

He smiled and walked over to her bed. He shook her shoulder lightly and said to her.

"Gaige...Wake up," He said softly

Gaige fluttered her eyes open to see the man who carried her to his bed because she fell asleep on his shoulder. She smiled at Kurt and sat up a bit on her bed.

"Mornin'" Gaige said softly,

"Well hello there," Kurt said smiling "SO how'd you sleep?" He asked

"Awesomely.." Gaige said "How bout you?"

"Meh...You couldn't sleep very good if you slept on the floor.." Kurt said looking away,

"What? Really?" Gaige said rubbing her eyes while sitting up,

"Yep...Can't really remember.." Kurt said "I'm gonna go get some weapons for Axton...Wanna come?" Kurt asked

"Okay!" Gaige said standing up putting on her goggles on her forehead.

Both Kurt and Gaige walked outside to see Axton was waiting over by the weapons cache. The cache was locked tight and could only be opened by Kurt himself. As Kurt and Gaige made their way over to the stockade, Axton craned his head towards their direction.

"Took you long enough.." Axton said looking at Kurt smirking

"Yeah, Yeah," Kurt said walking up to the cache "Hopefully this opens..."

Kurt put his eye next on the small identification laser, which scanned his eye color, amount of dilation, and other features exclusive to Kurt's body.

"Access Granted," The machine said before releasing the locks on the weapon chest.

"Sweet," Kurt said lifting up the lock hatches on the chest, then a computer operated motor kicked, automatically lifting the heavy top half up. There were two side panels that came out to reveal another set of guns. After that, the main latch released and the main panel rose up, revealing the big guns that Kurt mentioned about.

"Jesus.." Axton said looking at the various assortments of weaponry. All of the weapons were sleek, metallic, and look incredibly badass.

"Yeah...Let's take these to to the shooting range in Marcus' store, test em out," Kurt said grabbing some of the weapons "Careful, some of them are pretty heavy."

* * *

Kurt, Axton and Gaige walked over to Marcus' store where they could test out some of the weaponry Kurt provided them.

"Hello friends!" Marcus said "Welcome to my shop! What can I do for you?" He asked

"We need to use your shooting range if you don't mind," Axton said looking at him

"Sure thing!" Marcus said "But might I ask, where did you get those guns?" He inquired looking at the case both Kurt and Axton were carrying

"Kurt supplied them," Axton explained

"Okay, so long as there no other retailer on this planet, I made sure of that..." Marcus said grinning a bit.

"We know, Marcus," Axton said making his way towards the shooting range.

"One more thing Axton," Marcus said "Have you seen my TV anywhere? Some friggin' thief stole it from my store..."

Axton looked at Kurt for a few seconds, then looked back at Marcus "Nope, can't say we did..."

The three of the made their way into the shooting range, before being asked by Gaige,

"Sooooo, we gonna give that TV back to him?" She asked

"Nope," Kurt said smiling before opening up the cache again to reveal the weapons.

"Okay, so," Kurt began "Let's start with something simple," He said picking up what seemed to look like an assault rifle.

"This is a MI45 Battle Rifle," He said handing it to Axton "It's a bullpup, gas-operated, magazine fed assault rifle that fires a triple-burst fire rifle. It has computer operated scope that automatically calculates the ranges and sight the rifle to compensate for adverse conditions."

Axton moved the rifle around his hands. He never felt a rifle that was this comfortable and this light. He noticed that there was a small screen that displayed how much ammunition was left inside of the magazine, a useful tool if he was in the heat of battle.

"Wow...This is...Wow.." Axton said marveling over the rifle. It was truly a work of art.

"When your done gawking over it, fire a couple shots down range," Kurt said pointing to the targets.

Axton took aim at one of the targets with the high tech scope attached to the rifle, he then squeezed the trigger on the rifle. The rifle had such a high fire rate that it seemed like it was only firing one shot. All of the bullets hit the target dead on in the head. Axton also took note of the little to no recoil the rifle had.

"That was cool." Axton said giving the gun back the Kurt.

"Try this now," Kurt said handing him a rather large machine gun that had a drum magazine on it.

"This is the M743 Light Machine Gun," Kurt said "It's a drum-fed weapon that fires and at about 1100 rounds per minute, It has a reduced recoil stock so you can stay relatively accurate while firing this," He finished

"Cool," Axton said picking up the gun, noticing that it had some weight to it

Axton aimed the rifle down range, pulling the trigger releasing a storm of bullets that tore all of the targets to shreds in a matter of seconds. He stopped firing the gun, leaving the barrel in a smoking heat, which was cooled down rapidly.

"The barrel is constructed of a Tungsten lead alloy, so it cools down faster than normal machine guns." Kurt explained

"Badass...Salvador would love this gun," Axton said handing it back to Kurt.

"Okay so,our company doesn't manufacture this, but I thought I could share it with you," Kurt said pulling out a peculiar looking pistol, causing Axton's eyes to widen,

"No way! That's a M1911 pistol!" Axton said looking at it "How did you manage to keep it preserved like this?" He asked looking at the pistol, no rusting edges, nothing. It seemed like it came fresh from the box.

"It was given to me as a gift, actually," Kurt said holding the pistol up

"By who?" Gaige asked looking at the pistol, which caused Kurt to smile

"Your father," He said taking aim and firing the pistol's 7-round clip down range. The pistol's slide locked back to signify that it was out of ammo.

"My dad?!" Gaige asked looking at it "Where'd he get something like this?"

"No clue, he gave it to me when I got my PhD...It's a nice gun suffice to say," Kurt said looking at it before putting it on the table "Now then, let's move on"

Kurt then reached in the chest and pulled out a shotgun, holding it in front of Axton,

"This is the M45D Close-Assault Shotgun System, or the CASS if you must," Kurt said handing it to Axton

"It's a pump action, gas-operated shotgun that fires 8 gauge shells, the downfall is that you must insert the shell manually, which isn't much of a flaw." Kurt said "It can be outfitted with slug shells, dragons breath, and other shells."

Axton took aim and fired the shotgun. The gun had relative recoil, but that was expected for a shotgun this powerful, he pumped the action back to expend the used shell out of the gun, reloading a fresh shell in the gun. He rinsed and repeated until all of the shells were used. Axton pumped the action back to let the gun cool down.

"Badass," Axton said looking at the smoking barrel of the shotgun, then handing it to Kurt.

"Now this," Kurt said pulling out what appeared to be a sniper rifle "LR-89 Sniper System, It fires a 55 Caliber round, a stock that reduces the recoil significantly, and the best scope money can buy. It has a 8 shot clip, and the scope features a gyro-controlled stabilizer, so you can be more precise with your shots," He said handing it to Axton

"Mordecai's gotta try this..." Axton said looking at the beauty of a sniper.

"You might wanna plug your ears, Gaige," Kurt said to her, which she did

Axton then aimed the rifle down-range, squeezing the trigger, letting off an ear ringing sound. The bullet obliterated the target with one single shot. Even though the recoil was supposed to be reduced, Axton reckoned it felt like somebody whacked him on the shoulder.

"Damn thing packs a punch," He said loosening up

"I plan on letting Mordecai using it, probably best shot out of all of us." Kurt said grabbing the sniper.

"Now this is one of my favorite guns," Kurt said pulling out a carbine that looked very strange to Axton. The gun seemingly had two giant prongs sticking out of it in replacement of the barrel. It was a metallic finished gun with sights and a stock.

"The ARC-57, or the railgun," He said "This gun relies on electromagnets to power it. It takes awhile to change up the shot, but when it's fully charged, it hurls a piece of molten Tungsten across the field, setting off a high explosive, give it a go."

Axton picked up the gun and aimed it down range, be pulled the trigger of the gun. He noticed that the magnets began to create an energy field inside the two prongs. After about 3 seconds, the railguns power was unleashed and sent a piece of explosive metal hurling towards to target, blowing it to smithereens. Axton thought the recoil was so high, it could dislocate a shoulder if you're not careful. Axton looked at the target that was obliterated moments ago, slack jawed.

"Hoooooly Shit!" Axton said looking at the mayhem he caused. Gaige was equally as stunned as him.

"That could cause some seeeerious property damage!" Gaige said looking at the target.

"Oh you ain't seen nothing yet," Kurt said reaching in the chest again.

Kurt pulled out something that looked similar to a cannon. It was sleek design, featuring a scope and had a metallic, tough look to it.

"This is the Mass Accelerated Cannon 876, or the MAC Cannon" Kurt said "This is a battery operated mass accelerated weapon. Basically, it fires a big ass laser, obliterating anything in it's path...Seriously," Kurt said looking at both of them "I don't think we can test it inside here, might blow a hole through this place."

* * *

Kurt walked outside with the cannon in his hand. He was followed by Axton and Gaige, eager to know what this thing can do.

"Theres an empty house right there," Axton said pointing to the structure not being used by anybody.

"Alright step back a bit.." Kurt said looking back at him, the taking aim at the structure. Kurt pulled the trigger on the cannon. A faint laser could be seen from the gun, illuminating a target on the building. The noise the laser made became gradually louder and louder. 5 Seconds later, the cannon's laser power was released, sending a giant beam of light towards the structure. The noise it made was equivalent to the power is had. The building had a solid 5 inch hole punched through it, both entering and exiting the building. The cannon was smoking from the energy it was put through, the gun finally subsided and the smoke cleared.

"Jesus..." Axton said "That thing could take out Badass Loaders like nothing..."

"Yeah..." Kurt said "Meant for taking down air assault and such too. As well as-"

"Kurt! Come in! This is Albert Thatcher!" The Echo said. Kurt picked up the Echo frantically, and pressed the microphone button.

"This is Kurtis Thatcher! Where are you Dad?" He asked

"My ship has touched down at what is known as Three-Horns divide! I am in the shit here! We need assistance ASAP!" Albert said over the ECHO.

"Okay! Were heading down there now!" Kurt said before shutting off the ECHO device.

"Well," Axton said walking up to Kurt, "Let's go meet your dad then..."

* * *

**AN: Hey guys! Hope this chapter was worth the wait! If your wondering about the weapons, my inspiration came from Halo 4's weapon arsenal (Quite Badass guns I must say), Just look up the weapons if your having trouble picturing it. Please review and Fave!**

**Thanks!  
**

**-LT  
**


	20. Chapter 19: That Dog Don't Hunt

**AN: Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait! Cold has been a brewing and it doesn't really help me with keeping productive and such! I hope this chapter's worth it! Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 19

"Three Horns?" Axton pondered "Why would he touch down there?"

"Well when we get there," Kurt said looking back at him "You can ask him that question."

The three of them made their way back to the Raiders headquarters to be greeted by Salvador, Zero, Maya and the rest of the hunters. Mordecai was polishing his rifle with a damp cloth to try and take most of the rust and grime from the gun itself. Brick was over in the corner doing one-handed push-ups with his knuckles on the ground.

"Jakobs huh?" Kurt asked looking at Mordecai's sniper, causing him to glance at Kurt for a moment

"Yeah," Mordecai said looking back down at the gun to try and get the dirt off it "Piece of shit can barely even stay together, let alone fire a damn bullet straight...I gave my favorite sniper to Axton when he got me ale after Bloodwing died.." He was trying to get a smudge off the gun, but it wasn't exactly coming off. He kept on trying and trying but that smudge wasn't budging, causing to become more frustrated with the gun itself.

"Here, avoid all that trouble and use this instead," Kurt said holding the LR-89 Sniper in front of Mordecai, leaving his jaw dropped at the sight of the rifle itself.

"Ay Dios Mio..." Mordecai said silently when he took the gun from Kurt's hand's.

"LR-89 Sniper System, best sniper Thatcher arms makes...at least since I got to Pandora, don't know about now though..." Kurt said scratching the back of his neck

"What's the caliber?" Mordecai asked looking inside the chamber

"Chambered at .50 BMG, but the barrels can be interchanged up to .950 JDJ" Kurt explained holding a .50 caliber bullet in his hand, which was approximately the same length of Brick's middle finger.

"Holy Jesus..." Mordecai said looking at the round "Mind if I fire it a bit?" He then asked standing up.

"Go for it." Kurt said looking at it "It's yours man,"

"Gracias," Mordecai's said patting his shoulder "This'll be put to good use."

* * *

All of the hunters gathered around Mordecai to see him shoot various bottles from across the entire city with speed, accuracy, and patience all rolled into one deadly weapon. As Mordecai finished shot the last bottle, he let out a small laugh and put the smoking barrel of the gun facing downwards.

"This is how a sniper should be..." Mordecai said looking at the shattered bottles through his polarized goggles.

"That's what my dad was thinking...speaking of dad, I just got a ECHO from him, says he touched down on Three Horns." Kurt explained looking at his ECHO.

"I'll go with Kurt to Three Horns to grab his father. Sal, you come with us. Rest of you guys should stay here," Axton explained pointing to each of the hunters.

"Why can't I come?" Maya said putting her hands on her hips and craning her neck slightly to the left.

"We need people to watch over the city incase things go south while were away. Now that we know where Lilith is, Jack won't be shy to take any course of action against us... We lost enough Vault Hunters as it is..." Axton said quietly thinking about Roland.

Maya looked down at the ground for a bit, then looked back at Axton. He said the same thing Roland told Lilith. Lilith denied Roland's only request that she stayed in Sanctuary with Mordecai in case things went south. While she may have helped Roland get to the top of the control room inside Angel's chambers, she inadvertently got her self captured and is now being used to charge the key. If she would have just listened...they may have never gotten into this mess.

"Alright..." Maya muttered quietly looking back at Axton

"Don't worry," Axton said putting his hand on her shoulder "Shouldn't take us long.."

"Just make it back in one piece.." Maya smirked looking at him with one eyebrow cocked.

"Noted," Axton smirked back "Okay, Kurt, Sal, we're outta here!" he then said walking towards the Pierce station motioning with his arms for Salvador and Kurt to follow.

* * *

The Fast travel station digitally recomposed Axton, Salvador, and Kurt's genetic makeup so that they could proceed onwards with their journey. Walking was out of the question when it came to Sanctuary, because...well...there was nowhere to walk, only fall.

"Never geet used to that stinkin' fast travel crap.." Salvador muttered in a thick Spanish accent.

"Yeah well until they bring parachutes to Pandora, I don't see any other way traveling around the place." Axton explained smiling at Salvador.

"Okay, his beacon is pointed near the 'Happy Pig Motel', let's head there so we can grab him and go," Kurt said looking down at his ECHO.

"Were gonna kill ya Military Man!" The voice screamed in the distance, presumably a bandit, followed by volleys of varied gunshots.

"C'MON YOU DUMB APES!" Albert said through the ECHO "YOU WANT BREAKFAST? YOU GOTTA CATCH IT!" He then said sending off gunshots through the ECHO.

"Shit, he's in trouble..." Kurt said shutting off the ECHO "We gotta move fast!"

Axton, Sal, and Kurt ran as fast as they could, passing many streets, strafe shooting skags that were attacking, and for plain fun, until they came across the Happy Pig Motel. They say a rather large ship that was powered off, with the back hatch opened. Axton took note of all the Bloodshot bodies that had bullets in their chest, neck, head region. They proceeded to walk forward until a man in a trench coat was visibly presentable between the three of them.

"Sheet, one guy took down all those bandits?" Salvador said looking at the man.

The man was shifting his vision left and right, depending on which direction psychos, marauders, and goliaths were heading in. Each of them tried to get a clear shot on the man, only to catch one straight in the head. Psychos tried to flank him and come from the back side. The man pressed a button that was located on his assault rifle, springing out a giant bayonet. He turned around to impale the psycho that was coming from behind him in the chest, holding it there for a few seconds, before drawing out the sharp blade, then turning around to decapitate another psycho trying to flank him. The final psycho tried a different approach, head on (Bandits aren't exactly the smartest people in the world), the psycho realized this was a fatal mistake, after getting his leg scooped clean off with the man's large revolver that was holstered on his thigh. The psycho tried to crawl away, whilst trying to stop the profusely bleeding coming from his now-gone leg. The man made his way up to the psycho and plunged the bayonet blade right through his chest, twisting it around a bit, before pulling the blade out slowly and spitting on the corpse.

"Stupid fuck.." The man growled

Axton, Sal, and Kurt were left to look and gawk at the total carnage a single man caused on a entire group of bandits.

"Hoooooly Shit." Axton said looking around at all the dead bloodshot bodies

"What a gore fest!" Salvador said holstering his 'Spinigun' on his back.

"That's my Dad for you.." Kurt said smiling walking closer to the man,

"Hee's Padre deed all thees?" Sal said in a thick accent looking at Axton

"Apparently so.. Let's go meet him" Axton said following Kurt.

Kurt began to walk closer to the man, prompting him to look towards his direction. He scoffed and shifted his body towards him.

"Bout time you showed up!" Albert said looking at Kurt with his arms crossed.

"Yeah...Bad traffic sorry," Kurt said jokingly to his father

"Good to see you again, son," Albert said holding his hand out, which Kurt grabbed and pulled him in for a short embrace.

"You too, dad," Kurt replied looking at him

"So you're Albert Thatcher?" Axton asked looking at the father's beret.

"In the flesh," He replied "And you are?"

"Axton," He responded "That's Salvador,"

He waved at Salvador, then shifted his eyes back at Kurt, he looked at his arms and scrunched his eyes a bit.

"The fuck happened to your arms boy?" Albert said pointing to Kurt's arms. Kurt looked at both sides of his shoulders, then looked back at his father.

"I'll explain later...let's get this ship up and running again," Kurt said beginning to walk over to the carrier ship, only to be stopped by his father's hand on his shoulder.

"Whoa, hold your horses, kid, ship ain't broken." Albert said looking at the carrier hull.

"Then why'd you make us come down here?" Kurt asked looking at his Dad, causing him to smirk at his son,

"Because I wanted to show you that your old man's still got some fight left in him!" Albert laughed "Let's get back to this place called 'Sanctuary' and we'll see what we could do about Jack.." He then said before walking towards the carrier, he walked up the platform that led into the ship, before stopping and asking the three of them,

"You comin?" He asked motioning his hands in the direction of the ship.

Without hesitation, the three of them walked towards the ship, that began to slowly power up.

"Typical Dad," Kurt said to himself "Always the showoff..."

They finally got into the hull of the ship and the back hatch began to slowly come up. Although it wasn't fully closed, the pilot began to dust off and gain altitude. The three hunters settled down on the seats of the ship.

"Well, since you're here," Albert said taking a seat "Let me introduce you to Venom Company,"

* * *

Maya was always the person that had her nose in a book when she wasn't doing anything else productive in the time being. The monks let her read many manuscripts during the course of time she spent in the monastery. She always thought of it was a way to enhance her ways of perspective on several different elements of common society and relativity. The book she was reading was written by Malcolm Thatcher, Kurt's grandfather, explaining several theories about relativity and how all things are somewhat related to one another. She had to admit her self that this was a fascinating piece of literature. The only things the Order of the Impending Storm allowed her to read were manuscripts and past collection from other monks during the years of the activity in the Order. She found them to be completely boring and meaningless, and above all, bullshit. That's all the Order was in her opinion, just a bunch of bald-headed hags circle-jerking over their spiritual dominance over Athenas. Right when she killed Brother Sophis, Hyperion invaded the city of Mombasa, killing 600 innocent civilians. Maya would never forget that day. It was the day she saw so many dead people in one setting, it was also the first place she met Axton, only for a split second though..

"Whatcha readin'?" Gaige asked looking at the book Maya was reading currently

"General relativity," Maya answered paying no attention to the girl standing next to her.

"Oh, cool, I was taught that kinda stuffs in high school. About how mass equivalence governs mostly anything, and that theres infinite universes out there and stuff..I was gonna learn more in the next semester...but the science fair was going on...so...yeah.." Gaige said quietly looking down remembering why she was on this planet in the first place. She was a wanted criminal, and the Holloway's had so much money that they could never get that search called off.

She felt a hand placed on her shoulder, she looked up to see Maya was looking at her with a smile on her face. Gaige let off a small smirk at the sight of this.

"Don't worry, you still have us right?" Maya said looking at the teen.

"Yeah.." Gaige said perking up slightly "Guess I do!"

She then walked over to her bed, blankly looking at her prosthetic arm, which was a production line that was designed by Kurt ironically. As she looked at her arm twisting and turning it around, she heard a voice say in front of her.

"You love him don't you?" Maya asked looking at Gaige, she hesitated at first, but until she confirmed that the Siren was the only person present in the room, she gave off a slight nod facing the ground. Maya giggled lightly and walked over to Gaige's bed.

"Nothing to be ashamed of. I mean, who can blame you? He's smart, bold, handsome.." Maya began, only to be interrupted by Gaige

"Hey! That's my crush you're talking about there!" She said scolding the older women, causing her to laugh lightly.

"Don't worry, Gaige, I got my own piece of meat for myself..." Maya said before covering her mouth after realizing what she said. Gaige;s eyes slightly widened after hearing this..

"Geez Louise!" Gaige said standing up "Keep it in the bedroom whydontcha?" she then began to walk outside the door, leaving Maya alone and embarrassed at what she said.

'_Goddamnit...' _Maya thought _'What's wrong with me?'_

* * *

"Maya, it's Axton!" He said though her Echo device "We've succeeded in extricating the father, were heading to Sanctuary now!"

Maya picked up her Echo and pressed the microphone button.

"Alright, see you in a few," She said before shutting it off. She then closed her book that was on her lap and placed it on the table. She then walked outside to welcome back the three hunters.

"Were coming in hot!" Kurt said through the ECHO as the rather large aircraft slowly hovered over the city centre, which was next to Scooter's garage. The aircraft pulled out it's landing gear and slowly placed it's legs on the ground of Sanctuary.

Axton was the first to step out of the aircraft, followed by Salvador, Kurt, then finally Albert. Zero, Maya, Mordecai, Gaige and Brick stood near the ship to greet Albert's arrival.

"You Mordecai?" Albert asked looking at the lanky man wearing goggles.

"Yeah, pleasure to meet you Mr. Thatcher," Mordecai said shaking his hand.

Albert shifted his attention towards Maya, before letting off a smirk.

"Well I'll be damned...never thought I'd see a Siren in my lifetime..." Albert said looking at the blue-haired woman.

"You know about us?" Maya asked looking at Kurt's father

"Yeah, read up about your rare kind." Albert responded "Only six of you can exist at a time..."

"Yup..." Maya said

He then shifted his attention towards Gaige, causing him to develop a big smile on his face.

"Well hello Gaige!" Albert said walking over to the Mechromancer "Last time I saw you, you were only about yay high!" He then said holding his hand midway from his thigh. "You probably don't remember me though..."

"No I don't, sorry," Gaige said rubbing her neck slowly, causing Albert to chuckle a bit.

"So," Mordecai said "What's the deal with this 'Venom Company' I've been hearing about?"

"They're a company of my privatized military group. I guess you can get to say 'Hello' to my merry soldiers." Albert explained, he then went into the position of 'Attention', then making an about face turn.

"VENOM COMPANY. POST." He shouted, as soon as he said that, two lines of eight-foot tall soldiers marched out from the hull, in synchronized step. They continued until 30 Soldiers were present in total. It was a small company but not much was needed due to their size and strength. They stood still in the position of attention, until another command was given

"BALRA. AT!" Albert yelled in Hungarian which meant left face.

"At ease!" He then yelled causing the soldiers to put their hands behind their backs.

Kurt wasn't' kidding around. These soldiers were fucking massive and intimidating at the same time with their combat armor prepped and ready to go. Mordecai looked at the soldiers slack jawed at the sheer physique and size of the soldiers...Maya couldn't look away, they could probably break her spine by just punching her in the right place. What kind of toxins were pumped in these soldiers so they could be that giant?

"Jesus..." Mordecai said looking at them "These guys are almost as big as you, Brick..."

"Yeah, Almost.." Brick said crossing his arms while looking at them.

"Well then..." Albert said looking at Kurt "Where do you want Venom Company to go son? After all, you ARE the company commander...Lieutenant Colonel..."

* * *

**AN: Hey guys! I hope this was a worth while chapter! Might be a little short, sorry bout that. I'll make the next chapter longer I promise! Just been really lazy recently and haven't been able to function properly, due to my cold and sinuses...Rate and fave please! It helps!**

**-LT  
**


	21. Chapter 20: I'm Tired, Boss

**AN: Hey guys! Whasaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaap (tongue sticking out) So I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and I'll update as soon as I can...Gimme kiss...**

**I'll address some peoples comments in this section right now...  
**

**Guest (Chapter 20 and 21): Awww shucks! Thanks for that! Great to know I have a fan backing this piece of crap fanfic! I hope you enjoy it! EDIT:...Wow...Seriously? You wanna do something like that? Well go right ahead man! Don't know why you'd waste your time drawing something for this crap...  
**

**Wing Breaker:...No...But I still love Halo 2...  
**

**Issac Clarke AKA Reven: I intend to keep having Maya say weird stuff and embarrass herself in front of people!  
**

**Starfighter-105: Shit...You almost made me choke on my orange from that comment you made...You tryin to kill me bro?  
**

**That's it! Now enjoy this chapter!  
**

* * *

Chapter 20

"Fall out!" Kurt yelled in the position of attention, ordering all of the soldiers to disperse and ease up a bit.

"Still got that voice I see..." Albert said looking at his son.

"Yeah..guess I do," Kurt replied scratching his head.

"You're a Lieutenant Colonel?" Axton asked walking up to Kurt, which made him turn his head towards Axton's direction

"Yeah..Had some military training in my background years...So what's your orders Captian?" Kurt said patting Axton's shoulder, causing him to look at him funny,

"Captain?" Axton questioned cocking an eyebrow.

"Well, yeah, I mean, you think I'm gonna lead this Battalion by myself? What are you high? I mean I know you are but Jeez." Kurt said laughing a bit "Alpha Company Commander Axton...Has a nice ring to it."

A group of soldiers marched up towards Axton and stopped right in front of him, standing at the position of attention.

"We are yours to command sir," One of the soldiers stated "We live to protect and kill."

Axton simply just looked at the soldiers in astonishment. He never really got the chance to lead a squad, he always had to kiss the boots of his commanding officers, especially Sarah..._May she rest in peace.._ He thought to himself _'I'm gonna get revenge...' . _Being a staff Sergeant didn't exactly reap all of the benefits he had hoped for, much less that working for Hyperion, but a helluva lot more satisfying that working for his older brother. But not only was he able to command his own set of troops, but a company of genetically augmented super-soldiers that could crush anything in their paths.

"This is so cool.." Axton said quietly looking at the soldiers towering over him.

"We will die for you, sir," Another soldier said.

"They're also the most loyal soldiers anyone can ask for.." Albert explained looking at Axton "I'd like to think of them as the Greek Spartans.. Fiercely Loyal and brave.."

"They sure look the part.." Maya said looking in awe at the 8 foot tall soldiers.

"Demiques! Royce! Grab the cases! We need to get the digistruct up and running!" Kurt said pointing to two of the soldiers.

"Yes Sir!" Demiques said running into the ship with Royce behind him, a few second later they carried out a large metallic trunk and put it in front of Kurt.

"This good sir?" Demiques asked looking at Kurt.

"Yeah, this'll work. Thanks Logan." Kurt said patting Demiques' shoulder.

"What's inside?" Gaige asked looking at the box

"Just weapons and digistruct codes. Speaking of which, does anybody have a digistruct machine?" Kurt asked looking at Axton

"I know just the guy...Follow me." Axton said walking over to the large garage.

* * *

Axton, Kurt, and Maya all walked in through the front metal door to Scooter's garage. They say Scooter sitting in the back with his feet propped up on a couple of tire stacked up. He had a smirk on his face while reading a 'girly' magazine with one hand down his pants. He saw through his peripheral vision Axton and Maya, then quickly pulling his hand from his pants and throwing the magazine in the back of the room, zipping up his jeans and quickly shooting upwards.

"Jeezus, Axton!" Scooter yelled wiping his hand on his stained t-shirt and fidgeting with his belt "Y'all ever heard of 'knocking' first!?"

"Knock on what?" Axton retorted cocking his eyebrow.

"Whatev.." Scooter said "What can I do for ya'll?"

"First of all," Axton started "I don't think you met this guy. Kurt, this is Scooter: Pandora's finest mechanic.."

"Don't forget ONLY mechanic.." Scooter added laughing "Whassup man?"

"How ya doin?" Kurt said shaking his hand, which caused Scooter to jump at the sight of his hands,

"Jesus dude!" Scooter yelled "You one of them Hyperion drones?!"

"...No?" Kurt said slowly looking at him weird.

"Kay, jus makin sure. If y'all wanna use the 'Catch a Riiiiiiide' Machine then go ahead! My ladies all yours! Jus not in that particular way though..." Scooter said stressing the 'Ride' in Catch-a-Ride.

"Alright thanks..." Axton said walking over to the station, Kurt walked up to Maya and whispered in her ear.

"Is he mentally retarded?" Kurt asked looking at Scooter scavenging for the magazine he threw in the back of the room.

"Probably," Maya answered shrugging her shoulders "Fixing cars is all he knows. That and how not impress women."

Kurt walked up to the digistruct machine and pulled out a module that created specific schematics for Thatcher inc. weaponry. He inserted the chip into the mass drive.

"Schematic accepted," The machine said

"Nice..." Kurt said before pressing the construct button on the machine.

The digistruct machine began to slowly power up. The phaser began to flicker before it had a constant light shining from it. The machine began to slowly pan itself to the right, whilst beaming down a ray that began to construct a very huge, box-like apparatus with a screen on the side of it. After the machine was done, it powered itself down.

"Digistruct complete." The machine said.

"What in the hell's that?" Scooter asked scratching the top of his trucker cap.

"A Mark IV TITAN armor generator. I use it to get in my military armor." Kurt explained "Haul it back to the Raiders HQ Demiquez! Have Royce help you out!"

"Yes sir!" Royce said giving off a salute.

"HOLY SHIT!" Scooter yelled "Are theys-"

"NO Scooter," Axton interrupted "They are NOT Hyperion robots.."

"Jus' checkin'" Scooter explained "Don wan non of thems brain washin' me and crap.. hehe"

"Aaaaand right theres good," Kurt said motioning to Demiquez and Royce to drop the machine in the HQ.

"Phew, that things damn heavy.." Royce said shrugging his shoulders in a circular formation.

"How much does it weigh?" Gaige asked looking at the giant machine†† in front of her.

"Bout 1.5 Tons," Albert asked walking in the room, causing Gaiges eyes to widen.

"Whoa..." Gaige silently said

"Say, Kurt," Albert began "Anywhere We can get a drink?" He then asked, which made Kurt develop a huge grin on his face

"Let's go," Kurt said followed by Axton.

* * *

Axton, Kurt, and Albert walked into Moxxi's bar and took a seat on the bar stools in front of the building. Axton shifted his eyes around the place to see the usual gang of idiots who pollute this bar with their stupidity. Don't these people have homes? The answer was no. Nearly nobody had homes in Sanctuary, but they didn't seem to mind. They could be dead after all...

"So wheres the bartender?" Albert asked looking around the place.

"She'll come. And a word of caution dad: Maintain eye contact at all times." Kurt said looking at his father.

"Why's that?" Albert asked, before seeing a woman come out from the back.

"Hey boys.." Moxxi said walking up to them "What can I get you?"

"The usual Moxx," Axton said putting money on the table. "And some whiskey for the guy on the right."

"Well hello there," Moxxi said walking up to Albert, who was trying desperately to maintain eye contact, which is nearly impossible when it came to Miss Moxxi. "Never seen a face around here, what's the name sug?" She asked looking at Albert.

"Albert Thatcher." He said, before hearing a voice behind him say

"Albert Thatcher?" An English voice said from behind him, causing Al to turn around and face Sir Hammerlock.

"Yeah..Who's asking?" Albert inquired looking at the man

"Sir Hammerlock sir" He said giving off a salute "I have previously met your son before and it's an honor to meet the man who wrote one of my favorite novels concerning general relativity." Hammerlock explained holding out a book which was written by Albert.

"Thanks, most of my inspiration came from my father," Albert explained

"Well it was nice meeting you Mr. Thatcher, and I can't wait for a book written by Kurt!" Hammerlock said giving off a small laugh. "Fare thee well!"

As soon as Hammerlock left the building, Kurt spun around to look at Axton.

"Hey, you have any idea where he goes?" Kurt asked looking at Axton, only to see him shrug his shoulders.

"So, 3 shot's a whiskey with Rakk Ale right?" Moxxi said writing it down in a little notebook.

"Actually," Albert interrupted "You think you can serve more people than just us?"

"Of course sweetie," Moxxi said smiling "The more the merrier!"

Albert then chuckled to himself, then turned around in his barstool and put his hands over his mouth in a megaphone style.

"Alright Boys!" He yelled "Drinks are on me!"

Axton and Kurt spun around to see Venom company storm in and start to take up the tables in the room around the other Sanctuary citizens.

"Imma way better shot than yo-HOLY SHIT!" One of the regulars yelled looking at the Venom troops storm in.

"Okay then, so Moxx, I guess we're gonna need-" Axton began turning around to see Moxxi with her hand below the table, and one of them on the table itself. She didn't dare take her eyes off the augmented soldiers who just came in. She noticed Axton, Kurt and Albert were looking at her funny. She quickly snapped out of her trance and put her hand that was under the table on the bar. She was just as bad as her son when it came to these kinda sticky situations.

"Uh, I-I'm sorry?" Moxxi said fixing her hair and looking at Axton while smiling strangely.

"Uhhhh.." Axton began "I guess get a shitload of beers for the soldiers.."

"With pleasure sug!" Moxxi said giving the three of them beers and heading in the back to grab more.

The three guys in synchronization took a swig from the beer, before setting it back down on the table.

"So Axton, I gotta ask something if ya don't mind," Kurt said looking at the commando.

"What's that?" He inquired looking back at him, Kurt took a breath then asked.

"So when's the first time you smoked weed?"

Axton chuckled to himself while shaking his head slightly.

"A while back, I actually got it second-hand. From Jack." Axton explained taking another sip.

* * *

7 YEARS AGO

Axton was asleep in the humvee as Jack was driving to the place where the truce between Hyperion and Atlas would be discussed. Highway lights kept flying past them as they were seemingly the only ones on the road. It was about 3 O'clock in the morning and they needed to get to the meeting by 6 O'clock. Jack let out a rather large amount of smoke from his lungs before letting off a small cough and putting down the little pipe he had. After coughing Jack turned the radio up a bit and began to sing along with the Pink Floyd song "Hey You" that was playing through the speakers. The smoke traveled through the car because all the windows were rolled up. It kept floating around the room, until it made it's way up Axton's nose.

Axton let out a small cough before regaining consciousness and looking around the car to see Jack was focusing on the road with bloodshot eyes.

"This is the stuff.." Jack said quietly not looking at Axton

Axton sat there for a minute, just looking out at the road ahead. He then tried to roll the window down, only to find that it was stuck in the upwards position.

"This window's broken..." Axton said quietly.

"No, No, I locked it so I could get a good clam bake goin on here..Get myself nice and stoned.." Jack explained looking to the left of him for a bit.

Axton looked in front of him again not paying any attention to his older brother in the car.

"...Am I stoned?" Axton asked looking ahead of him.

"I dunno..." Jack slurred "Do you feel stoned..?"

Axton said no more. He felt no words were necessary from this point in time. He slowly closed his eyes and began to bop his head in rhythmic pattern, corresponding to the beat of the Pink Floyd song. Axton then slowly opened his eyes to see his brother was still focusing on the road. He then turned to his right to see that they somehow warped into outer space and were going at hyperspeed. A sun flew by Axton as he reached out to try and grasp it, but to no avail. He slowly shifted his attention back to Jack, who has now transformed into a moose. Axton couldn't get over it. How did his brother acquire to powers to transform himself into a moose? He blinked his eyes to see that his brother was looking at him stoney with his bloodshot eyes. Jack looked back at the road and continued to press on. Axton did the same. He stared at the road for a few seconds, before lifting his fist in the air as a sign of accomplishment. Jack was quick to steady his hand and bring his fist back to the ground. Axton approved of this and nodded slightly while closing his eyes.

"Dude, pass the doritos.." Axton asked looking at Jack.

"What the fuck is a Dorito?" Jack asked looking at his brother weird.

"I dunno..." Axton said

* * *

"Jesus.." Kurt said ;laughing at Axton's little story "You must've been flying high..."

"I guess, I mean, it WAS my first time." Axton said finishing his beer.

"Welp," Albert said "I'm gonna go crash in the fleet ship, see you tomorrow and we'll knock out one of the defenses Jack has to his stronghold or something."

"G'Night dad," Kurt said looking at his father leave Moxxis.

"What a nice guy..." Moxxi sighed with both her hands on the table

"Guess were heading out too Moxx, catch you later.." Axton said standing up from the table, followed by Kurt.

"Buh Bye sweetie, and remember, doors always open!" Moxxi said to the two soldiers leaving the room.

* * *

"When are they coming back?" Gaige asked Maya while she was tossing the same ball she found a while back whilst laying on her bed.

"Probably now," Maya said not shifting her attention from the book.

Maya couldn't have been more spot on. She saw Axton and Kurt walk in, slightly tipsy but could still hold their shit together. This time they weren't stumbling each other trying desperately to stand up straight.

"Hey girls," Kurt said "I'm gonna watch a movie, wanna join?"

"Sure!" Gaige piped springing up from her bed. "Which one?"

"The Green Mile" Kurt said, causing Axton to chuckle

"Oooh hoo hoo, this should be fun..." He silently said letting off a smirk.

* * *

The four of them settled down on the couch to watch the movie. The other hunters were all asleep at this point in time, and Venom company retired to the ship for some shut-eye. They were at the point of the movie where John Coffey gets one of his last requests and gets to see a flicker show with Paul Edgecomb and the other officers.

"Oh!" Gaige said pointing at the movie within a movie "That's the same movie from the beginning!"

"Yup," Kurt slurred out, not paying attention to the Mechromancer who came into realization of this. She settled back down to enjoy the rest of the movie.

"Don't please..." John said to the officer "I'm afraid of the dark.."

The officer hesitated at first, but put the bag down after looking at Paul nodding. Edgecomb walked up and shook the miracle mans hand before letting go. A switch with was flipped and large amounts of electricity passed through John's body. The other officers began to cry because they just murdered as Paul described it as 'God's Miracle'. Lights began to explode as Coffey began to struggle less and less, until he stopped struggling.

"Man..." Axton said quietly "Heavy shit..What do you think Maya?" He said shifting her attention over to Maya, to see that she was sniffling and had tears come from her eyes.

"Are..Are you crying?" Axton asked looking at the teary eyed Siren who was clutching Axton.

"No I'm not..fuggin' crying.." Maya stuttered out wiping the tears from her face. Gaige was equally as saddened at her, slightly sniffling.

"Why did he die?" Gaige asked quietly, causing Kurt to let out a sigh.

"They had no evidence to prove he was innocent." He explained "There was nothing he could do..."

"But he was such a nice guy.." Gaige said quietly and sniffling

"I know Gaige, but it's just a movie.." Kurt reassured the mechromancer next to him.

When the credits began to roll with the piano music in the background Axton stretched out his arms and let out a yawn.

"Man, that movie never gets old.." He said

"Nope.." Kurt concurred with the commando. "I'm gonna go to bed...or in this case, floor,"

"Me too," Gaige said standing up "Good night Kurt..." she then said walking over to her bed and plopping on her bed. Kurt took one look at Gaige on her bed before proceeding upstairs, leaving Axton and Maya on the couch once again.

"That such a sad movie.." Maya said wiping the tears from her eyes

"It was..." Axton said "Want me to carry you again, my queen?" He then asked jokingly, which was followed by a smile from Maya.

"Of course, my Squire." Maya said.

As if it were clockwork, Axton scooped up Maya bridal style and slowly brought her to the bed and laid her gently down on it. He put the blanket over her head and stroked Maya's hair a couple of times as if she was a cat, which was odd because Axton hates cats.

"Thank you my squire.." Maya muttered still keeping up the charade "You are dismissed.."

"Whatever.." Axton said quietly pressing his lips on hers "Goodnight, My queen..."

Axton left her royal highness presence and began to make his way upstairs, so he could get the rest he deserved. He saw all the Vault hunters were passed out in their respectable places. Axton sat down on his bed and rubbed his face a bit. Axton lifted his gaze up to see that the stuffed giraffe was still on the bedside. While he may have found new love in his life, he mustn't forget about his past, about what he failed to do. He let his previous family die by the hands of his older brother, and he wasn't about to let Jack kill any more people that he needed to. Axton unclipped the backpack from his body and placed it right next to his cot. He lifted his legs onto the bed and put his hands behind his head and silently said to himself before closing his eyes.

"Can't wait to kill you Jack.."

* * *

**AN: O hai guise! Hope y'all enjoyed this chapter! Like I said, I'll update as soon as I can now that I'm on winter break! **

**POP QUIZ: Chapter 18's title was a quote that was said by somebody very famous. Who was it? Guess right and win a shoutout or a roundhouse kick on my next chapter!  
**

**Hop it was worth the wait! Don't forget to Review, Fave, and Follow! If you do that then it'll make me feel warm and special inside! Do your good deed for today! Bye!  
**


	22. Chapter 21: Drown in God's Black Tears

**An: Hey guys! Hows it going! So before I start this long-ass chapter, I'm gonna address some of the reviews you guys had on my last chapter:**

**Ecofreakrsa17: Exactly! Glad you caught those references! I enjoyed the book as well as the actual movie itself!  
**

**Guest: Wow...Seriously? You'd want to draw fanart for me?! AWESOME!  
**

**DiamondDoug: ...What?  
**

**That's it! Now enjoy this long ass Chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 21

"Wake up, Buttercup.." Axton said shaking Maya on her bed.

Maya fluttered her eyes open as she escaped from her slumber. She shifted her head to the left to see Axton was standing in front of her bed, trying to get her up. Maya let off a small smile to see her little trooper was giving off a grin while looking down at her.

"What? Don't feel like calling me 'Your royal highness' now?" Maya sarcastically muttered while sitting up from her bed.

"Nah...That ship's sailed" Axton explained "We got work to do, there's a frontal defense gate that leads into the Eridium Blight. If we knock that down, we have a straight shot to the Vault."

"Then we save Lilith?" Maya asked rubbing her eyes.

"And kill Jack..." Axton muttered glancing down at the ground. Maya looked at his sour face face when he mentioned his brother. Axton had every reason why to hate Jack, Maya just didn't want this revenge thing to get to his head. He promised...

Maya stepped up from her bed to notice that everyone was already up and ready to go. Has she overslept? Why didn't Axton wake her up earlier?

"Wait...Did I oversleep?" Maya asked squinting her eyes a bit.

"Sorta..." Axton answered "Bout 20 minutes only," He then said looking at his watch on his left hand, right under the strap that was covered up for some reason.

"What!? I missed Sal's hilarious wakeup?" Maya asked again worried

"I'm actually surprised you didn't wake up from all the noise," Axton pondered looking around the room.

"Well what happened?" Maya asked once again but this time craning her neck to the side a bit.

"Let's just say.." Kurt said joining the conversation while inspecting the action of his rifle "It involved gunshots. Lots, and lots, of gunshots."

Kurt wasn't wearing his regular attire at this point in time. He was wearing what appeared to be a microfiber tactical shirt that covered most of his body, with the exception of his prosthetics. It was in a small hexagonal pattern, presumably for flexibility.

"What's that you're wearing?" Maya asked pointing to his shirt

"Oh this?" Kurt said looking at his new shirt "Just standard issue TITAN under armour. need to get suited up for battle."

"Suit up?" Maya pondered again looking at him, Kurt then smiled and pointed to the machine in the back of the room.

"When I step in the machine I'll be outfitted with TITAN armor, just shorter than the rest of the other soldiers." Kurt explained putting his rifle on the table.

"Sooooooo," Gaige slurred walking up to him "When are you gonna put it on? Wanna see how it looks and junk,"

Kurt let out at slight scoff after hearing that remark come from the mechromancer. He turn his head to face the girl that was asking the question.

"Well," Kurt began "If you're so eager to see how my armor looks, I suppose I'll put it on now."

* * *

They followed Kurt over to the giant metal apparatus that was digistructed from Scooter's appliance. Kurt walked up the the machine and pressed a button that was on the side. A screen was revealed from the machine, the screen showed various names which included Kurt, as well as other TITANs like Demiquies. He used his finger to scroll through the list of names present on the list. He kept scrolling and scrolling until his name appeared. He tapped his name, and the file opened up to reveal a schematic of TITAN armor. He tapped the accept button on the screen.

"Request Confirmed," A Male cybernetic voice said "Armor Accepted."

The machine revealed itself to have two doors that came out to reveal a mold of a human where presumably a person would sit to get their armor placed onto their skin.

"Step into the Machine," The voice then said.

And Kurt did just that. He walked into the machine and placed his hands on the designated areas. He placed his feet inside of the mold and rested his head on the place of insertion. The apparatus detected he was prepped and ready to go. It bolted him down to the machine so the armor could be accurately placed. The doors were shut on the machine, sealing Kurt inside of the apparatus. A beam of light could be seen through the crevice from the door, as well as a few electrical noises and such.

"Application Complete," The machine said then opening the doors.

Kurt stepped out of the machine to reveal that his entire body was plated in the same stuff as the other soldiers, except this armor was more definable and unique. He took a couple of step out into the machine, sending off rather large thuds on the ground where he stepped. He was met with faces of awe and dumbfoundment at the sight of his armor. (AN: Look up Halo 4 Rogue to get an idea of his armor minus the arm pieces)

"Holy shit..." Gaige silently said to herself with her eyes as large as dinner plates "That is soooooo badass Kurt,"

"Mmmmhm," Kurt replied smirking at Gaige. He then shifted his attention towards Axton who was standing next to Maya. He walked up to him with his armor and put his hand on Axton's shoulder.

"Your turn Captain," He said giving off a smirk.

"Wait..What?" Axton replied in semi-disbelief "I get on of those armor sets?"

"Well, yeah" Kurt said cocking an eyebrow "You think I'm gonna let a Company Commander charge into battle with Khaki pants and a felt T-Shirt?"

"Hey! This took me places mind you!" Axton said pointing his finger at Kurt's face.

Kurt then tossed Axton the same tactical shirt he was wearing before it got covered up with TITAN armor. Except this one had sleeves that ended at about mid-wrist. Axton did as Kurt instructed and took off the shirt he was wearing, then put on the tactical shirt. He took note on how comfortable and light it was. It helped define the muscles on his body as well, much to Maya's liking.

"Alright," Kurt said "Come over here,"

Kurt directed the Commando over to the same apparatus. He pressed a button and scrolled through the list of soldiers until he stumbled upon Axton's name in the machine. He pressed the name and a file popped up, displaying the armor permutation. Kurt hit accept and the machine spoke once again.

"Request Confirmed. Step into the Machine"

Axton did the same exact thing as Kurt did. He slowly walked into the machine and let it bolt himself to the mold that was inside. The doors shut on Axton as the machine prepared to put on the armor for Him.

"It might sting a bit!" Kurt yelled into the apparatus.

"What! What do you mean by AHH! OWW!" Axton cried though the machine. He reckoned it didn't hurt immensely, but he definitely felt some stinging as Kurt said.

"Application Complete," The machine said sliding the doors open so Axton could get out of the machine. The apparatus erupted with steam and smoke from the applications. Only his silhouette could be seen. Axton took his first couple of steps out of the machine, letting out large thuds like Kurt did.

"You gotta admit Kurt." Axton said through the smoke before stepping out the commando that was now fully suited in TITAN armor. It was nearly the same specifications as Kurts. Both of theirs were not as bulky and big at the TITAN soldiers were, they seemed more nimble and maneuverable. They had armor plated on them, but not as much as a Soldier was. (AN: Look up Halo 4 Commando to get an idea of his armor looks like)

"I make this armor look good.." He finished letting off a smirk then lifting his hands up to his face to reveal the plated gloves on them.

Everybody looked at Axton in his new set of Captain's armor with slack jaws as well as eyes. Kurt was the only one to let off a laugh at this.

"Yeah, I guess you do," He chuckled.

"Wow...that is...wow," is all Maya could manage to say when she was looking at Axton's new set of armor.

Kurt tossed one of the battle rifles that on the table to Axton. Despite him not being ready to catch it, his armor reacted and automatically grabbed it. He looked at his hands strangely as they reacte in less than a second. Axton stuttered out while looking at it

"Whoa...how the-"

"Situational awareness augmentation" Kurt interrupted while walking up to him "your armor will automatically react to projectiles coming at you!" And without warning, Kurt tried to throw a volley of punches at Axton, which he blocked with his hands and arms.

"You're awareness has increased by thrice the normal human." Kurt explained putting his hands down.

"Reflex of a cat/ with permutations like that/ Jack won't stand a chance," Zero said in poetry admiring Axton's new armor.

The Commando rolled his shoulders around it cracked his neck inside of it. He was willing to get very comfortable and used to his new armor, until Kurt said,

"Of course that armors Thatcher arms property," Kurt added "I'll need it back when this is done,"

"Fuck..." Axton muttered hanging his head down low. "Guess i'll have to enjoy it while I can..."

"Yup," Kurt concurred

* * *

"So here's the gameplan," Mordecai began loading up the hologram projector upstairs, "Jacks path to the warrior is guarded with heavily fortified bunker that has the best defenses Hyperion could afford. If we can destroy that bunker, we'll have a straight shot at Lilith and Jack. Got it?" Mordecai added at the end, he looked around the room to see that nobody was inclined to ask him a question.

"Good. Brick and I will stay here to supply info on the stockade," Mordecai explained "Let's do this,"

The 6 Hunters ran out of the room to meet up with Kurt's father to discuss the further plans needed in order of this raid to come to a successful close.

"What's the news Al?" Axton asked walking up Albert.

"Hey Axton! Lookin sharp in that TITAN armor!" Albert said looking at the permutation he was wearing "Not exactly provides you with the most support and protection, but hey, still get's the job done!"

Axton smirked at this comment and looked at his armor from many different angles. Not only was he impressed by the appearance and ferocity of his armor, but all the other Vault hunters admired it as well, especially Maya. Made her man look extra tough...

"Alright, my TITAN troops will deploy down to the eridium blight using the carrier ships within my transport frigate." Al explained fixing his beret on his hairless head..

"Soooo, a ship within a ship? ShipCeption!" Gaige said giggling to herself.

"You should've been a comedian Gaige," Kurt sarcastically added rolling his eyes.

"The rest of us will take another ship towards the Blight as well. If we stick with the plan, this should go along smoothly." Albert finished "Let's hustle!"

* * *

The 6 of them followed Albert to the main ship and boarded the side hatch so they could be taken to the Eridium Blight. Fast Travelling was out of the question. If all of the people were to be digi structed in one instance, the machine could fry and keep their compositions in the Cyber-Space.

They all took seats inside of the ship. The pilot confirmed they were in and put power to the main thrusters, the machine slowly began to levitate and move out of the ship. The ship made a sudden dive below to the surface of Pandora, much to Maya's disliking. She didn't dare take her hands off the handle bars that were next to her seat. As she clenched them with white knuckles, she could hear Gaige say,

"Best. Ride. Ever!" She said looking out the side hatch that was left open.

"No it's not!" Maya yelled still clenching on handle bars on the ship.

"Why you gotta be such a Daisy Downer for?" Gaige said enjoying the little ride she was getting from the ship.

"Because she's afraid heights!" Axton said looking at Gaige then shifting his attention back to the Siren.

"No I'm not!" Maya snapped back defending her fear.

"Yes you are!" Axton snapped back making his way towards her seat.

"For the last time Axton!" Maya yelled "I Am NOT Afraid of-"

"SAVED YOUR LIFE!" Axton yelled as he playfully shoved her, causing her to scream and latch on to Axton like a baby chimp clutching to it's mother. Axton thought this was hilarious and proceeded to die with laughter. Maya pulled herself away and shoved him away while blushing profusely.

"Prick.." She muttered crossing her arms and looking the other direction. She remembered that she was in the same ship and latched on the safety bars on the side of the ship again.

Albert and Kurt saw the whole thing go down and couldn't help but laugh. It was the best entertainment they had in a very long time.

"Quite a bunch you found, Kurt," Al said to his son.

"Yeah, they seem irreplaceable.." Kurt concurred. He looked at the ground for a bit before shifting his attention back to his dad.

"Dad...I have to ask you something." Kurt said looking at his father.

"Shoot," Al said looking at his son.

"Well...It's just that...Where were you this whole time?" Kurt asked "I mean, I never contacted you or anything like that...What did you do?"

It was Albert's turn to look down at the ground for a bit, he then shifted his attention back to his son.

"Kurt...I thought you were dead.." Al confessed looking at his son, causing Kurt's eyes to squint a bit.

"What?!" Kurt said in disbelief.

"Hyperion said you were killed by wild skags during the experimentation process. I tried to contact you on Pandora, but the lines were cut off. I tried, son...It's just that," He tried to finish but was cut off by Kurt.

"It's fine dad, I understand" Kurt said putting on his helmet "There wasn't much you could do. I guess what matters is that you're here now. Now we can get shit done."

"Eridium Blight/ Is over these Mountains/ We are approaching," Zero poetically said pointing his finger at the Slag-Emitting Mountain.

"Alright guys," Axton said putting on the helmet he was supplied "Lock and Load!" Were going in.

"Hey Guys this is Roland!" A poorly imitating voice said over the Echo "Let's go kill Jack and go out for milkshakes afterwards!"

"Fuck you Jack.." Axton muttered over the microphone.

"Ah! Caught me there!" Jack said chuckling a bit "Yeah, he's still dead...So whatchu gonna do to get Lilith back Hmm? Storm my base? Take out my bunkers? This should be fun to watch...6 of you against an entire army? I should make some popcorn and a Soda..."

"Actually," Axton added "We got an Army ourselves too,"

"Axton, Axton, Axton," Jack said over and over in a scolding fashion "We've been through this before, The crimson raiders are nothing more than a bunch a defunct lance troopers taking orders from a Friggin' drunk sniper. They're nothing to me!"

"Not that army," Axton contrarily added once again.

"This which, pray tell?" Jack asked

"TITAN," Kurt finally said over the ECHO.

"Thatcher? That you?" Jack asked curious to hear that familiar voice "I should've gutted your stupid ass back in the Preservatory!"

"Maybe, but you didn't, because you pussed out once things went south in the lab." Kurt explained through the ECHO.

"Well lemme explain something to you boy.." Jack said coldly "You ain't shit without your father by your side you hear me! He runs the Thatcher Industries not you!"

"You were saying?" Albert pitched in through the microphone,

"Oh shit.." Jack silently said cutting off his ECHO communications, causing Axton to laugh a bit.

"Alright ladies this is it!" Albert said loading up his assault rifle "Let's go kick some Hyperion ass!"

* * *

As soon as the ships landed, the TITAN troops stormed out of them, seizing control of the certain area, awaiting instructions from Kurt. THe all formed into ranks to wait for the 6 vault hunters.

Kurt stepped out of the helicopter along with Axton, Albert, and the other hunters. Axton followed him up to the front of the formation to await a briefing.

"Alright Listen UP!" Kurt yelled to the battalion "What is your profession!?"

"KILL! KILL! KILL!" The TITAN troops responded thunderously slamming their rifles to the ground with each 'Kill' they said.

"Who is better than us?!" He then yelled

"NONE! NONE! NONE!" They responded in the same manner.

"What is worse than dying?!" Axton yelled to the Battalion per Kurt's prior instructions.

"DISHONOR! DISHONOR! HOOAH!" They finished with more thunderous yell. They were truly a force to be reckoned with. Eight or so troops with the sole purpose of killing and slaughtering. Salvador in particular wanted to see how these troops did in battle.

"Let's move up!" Axton yelled leading his company to battle.

"YES SIR!" They yelled thunderously.

As they began to march toward the bunker, Axton walked up to Maya and whispered in her ear,

"I always wanted to do that.." He said like an excited kid in a candy store.

They began to march into the bunker until it was visible over the horizon. When the bunker was in sight of the soldiers, as well as the Hyperion soldiers and loaders, their pace quickened until it became a full sprint. These soldiers could run damned fast as a matter of fact. When the Hyperion soldiers got a glimpse of the TITAN soldiers coming up the hills, they were scared for their lives. One by one, the Soldiers were diminished by the forces of TITAN. Some soldiers got their heads scooped off, and other got their heads torn of with the TITANs bare hands. In some occasions the Soldiers would play "Tug-of-War" with some of the Hyperion troops as well as the loader for shit's and giggles. Light machine guns were a blazing from the hands of the Gunzerker as they began to mow down dozen of the hopeless troops that happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

"HOLD IT!" Maya said as she phase locked a Badass Loader into the air, allowing Axton to accurately destroy the beast with his new Battle Rifle he was given by Kurt.

"Thanks Honey!" Axton said giving a thumbs up to Maya, leaving her to scoff and roll her eyes. She then looked around to see if Axton's Sabre turret was in the vicinity, which it wasn't, meaning that Axton called Maya 'Honey'.

"I told you not to call me 'Honey'!" Maya yelled with her hands on her hips, causing Axton to laugh as he gunned down 3 Hyperion soldiers as if it were nothing. Thanks to the rifle, his shots were precise, quick, and deadly at the same time. He turned his attention around to see a Hyperion soldier was staring right at him, with blood dripping from his mouth, and a blade that was sticking through his chest. Zero uncloaked himself and pulled the blade from the mans diaphragm and wiped it off with his arm.

"Thanks, buddy." Axton said patting his shoulder before drawing his pistol and shooting a soldier who tried to stab Zero with the bayonet attached to his shotgun. Axton couldn't believe how fast he was able to draw his pistol and get a perfect shot on the soldier. He loved this armor, almost as much as he loves his Turret and Maya...Especially Maya...

"Let's go DT!" Gaige yelled as she summoned her mechanical friend to serve her in battle. And serve her it did, as it mercilessly hacked and slashed away all the robots and soldiers with its giant blades located on its right arm. Torsos and arms flew all over the place as she shot down a couple of soldiers with the Thatcher Arms SMG Kurt gave her. Now this thing blows the Hyperions SMG out of the water by far she thought. It was light, stronger, and looked more badass as well. Plus it was given to her by Kurt, which automatically makes it better!

"Let's see what you maggots got!" Albert yelled as he pulled out his 50 caliber magnum and shot down 3 soldiers in a succession, then spinning around to finish off two more. Albert was an excellent shot with his pistol in the heat of battle. Unlike most generals, he usually charged in with his fellow soldiers. He was no coward, and it showed.

"Now I'm gonna show you boys a thing or two about internal bleeding!" Kurt said as his arms began to glow red and his eyes began to bleed once again. He was playing tennis with the rocketeers and loaders using his gravity hands to launch them back to troopers. Hyperion stood no match to the might of the Vault Hunters and Thatcher Incorporated. Kurt drew his arms back in again and pulled out his assault rifle to mow a down a couple more soldiers. He was strafe running and shooting more and more soldiers with the help of Axton. The two were basically back-to-back as they mowed down more and more troopers.

* * *

"So, It all comes down to this huh?" Jack said through the ECHO "We'll see whos the best company after all! Hyperion vs. Thatcher Industries! Thatcher Industries vs GIANT MAC CANNON!" He yelled and a giant Mass Driver cannon slid from the bunker door and charged up its beam. The beam was so large that it obliterated 10 troops at once, devastating an entire squad.

"What the fuck?!" Kurt yelled "How did he get a MAC Cannon?!"

"Duh!" Jack said letting off a chuckle "You didn't think I knew about the weapon cache you hid in the Eridium Blight?! Do you think I'm an idiot? Like seriously! Anyways have fun with the MAC Cannons! Peace!"

Every time the MAC Cannon fired a shot, it killed at least 1 to 5 TITAN Soldiers. Axton needed to stop it, and fast.

"Kurt!" Axton yelled to him "You got that handheld Laser?!"

"Yeah, but your gonna have to get close in order to hit it!" Kurt explained shooting at the giant cannon mounted on the bunker wall.

"That's fine! Just cover me while I do it!" Axton yelled.

Without moments hesitation, Kurt handed Axton the giant cannon from inside the ship. Axton then began to run closer and closer to the Cannon. Kurt pulled out his battle rifle and ran in the opposite direction as Axton, followed by Salvador, who was holding two M79 Light Machine guns supplied by Kurt. They were definitely doing the part of keeping the Cannon preoccupied.

"Okay Axton! You're in range! TAKE IT DOWN!" Kurt yelled through the ECHO.

Axton knelt down so he could get more stable. He pressed a button to activate the laser and be ready for use. A scope slid out from the cannon to help for precision aiming and such. He pulled the trigger the get the cannon charge up the laser. As the laser finally was at the point where the laser could be fired, Axton branched himself the enormous amount of force from the cannon.

"Hasta Luego Motherfucker..." Axton said as he pulled the second trigger to unleash a giant beam of light towards the MAC cannon that claimed many TITAN Soldiers lives. The initial shot destroyed the MAC Cannon, but triggered a chain reaction completely obliterating the bunker into billions of pieces.

"FUCK YEAH!" Axton yelled and held his one free hand up in the air. He was followed with Kurt held both of his hands up in the air along with Axton.

"Great shot Ax! That was a one-in-a-million!" He yelled over the ECHO laughing to himself while taking off his helmet.

"Que era increíble!" Salvador shouted along with Kurt and the rest of the Hunters, while Zero stood there with his sword over his shoulders, and a smily face on his helmet, with the other hand on his hip.

"Alrighty then, Kurt!" Albert said walking up to his son "Now that we have this main bunker down, it'll be a straight shot to Jack's chambers! We'll need to regroup back in Sanctuary so we can call in more troops to-"

**BANG**

Kurt looked at his father in horror after hearing that shot. His father just looked at him confused and said,

"...What?" He asked before looking down realizing that he had a large bullet hole in his chest, that was rapidly seeping out blood. Albert collapsed to the ground, although his fall was broken by Kurt

"No no no no no no," Kurt said quietly while easing him down to the ground.

Axton was having Deja Vu. Where did he see this before? Oh yes, when Roland was shot in the back by Jack in the battle for the control core. He looked in horror as Kurt slowly eased his mortally wounded father to the ground softly. Albert coughed up a bit of blood while looking at his son with Albert's hazel eyes then chuckled to himself.

"You have your mother's eyes you know that?" He said quietly looking at his grief-stricken son,

"No, come on Dad, we still got work to do just hang in there!" Kurt said shaking his father. Alber let out a couple of coughs before continuing onwards,

"Sorry kid, looks like this is my 'One way Ticket'" He coughed out spewing more blood on his face.

"Shut up Dad, you're gonna make it!" Kurt said looking at his dying father's bloody face.

Albert let out another cough before continuing with his speech

"I'm glad I got to see you again son...This one last time..." He faintly muttered

"The company is in your hands now...lead it well...I know you can do it Kurt...Or should I say...Mister...Thatcher.." He finally said before taking one final breath.

Silence...It was all that shrouded Kurt as he held his father's body in his arms.

"Dad..." He quietly muttered while looking into his father blank stare. He looked at his face for a few second before hanging his head in complete guilt in agony.

Albert O'Malley Thatcher, leader of the Thatcher Industries corporation, was dead...

Kurt looked at his father before shutting his eyes, trying not to shed tears at the loss he just had at this moment. He slowly moved his hands over his fathers eyes and shut them, so he wouldn't have to look blankly into the shithole of planet. After not seeing his own father for 5 years, he has to leave again, this time for good. He brought his father's lifeless body towards his and clutched while he hung his head near his torso. Axton saw the whole thing go down, the fearless leader of the Thatcher Corporation was shot in the back, and all they could do it mourn over his lifeless body. As Axton just blankly stared at Kurt mourning over his father's body Maya walked up to Axton, unaware of what happened.

"Axton, what the hell's goin-" She tried to say but saw what Axton was staring at. A man grieving over his fathers body. She brought her hands to her mouth as she gasped in total shock over Kurt. Tears began to trickle from her face as Axton began to rub her shoulder.

"Oh my God...'' She softly whimpered looking at the mourning man with his dead father.

"Maya," Gaige said walking up to her "Why are you crying?" She then noticed the man she loved, Kurt, was grieving over Albert Thatchers body. She quickly ran up to Kurt and knelt beside him. She put her hand on his shoulder and looked at the now lifeless body of Al. She absolutely hated seeing Kurt like this, she couldn't help but stream tears at the sight of Albert's deceased body being clutched by Kurt. She began to hug Kurt tighter and tighter while digging her head in his side which wasn't covered in armor while sniffling a bit. She wanted to be able to tell him that everything would be OK, but honestly she couldn't see any good from this moment.

"...Oh God No...Oh God..Dad...We still have work to do..." Kurt muffled while clutching his father while whimpering.

Just as he said that, an evil chuckle could be heard from the ECHO radio.

"You were right Axton.." Jack said over the microphone "We should have been taking notes.."

Axton then looked at the horizon to see Handsome Jack was holding a Thatcher arms LR-89 Sniper rifle in his hands. Two powerful leaders, dead, because of the leader of Hyperion Corporation and Axton's older brother...Handsome Jack.

That was it for Kurt. He couldn't take anymore of this torment and misery he had to face throughout his time in Pandora. But this was crossing the line. Gaige noticed that Kurt's tears...turned blood red. Kurt slowly lifted his face to show that his entire face was covered in the blood that was trickling from his eyes. Kurt was panting and grunting and fueling his rage more and more, before finally, he snapped.

He ran at full sprint towards the final door that led to Jack's chambers, which Jack took the shot from. He didn't ease up his speed until he was meters away from the door. Jack then stepped back from the door, shutting it on Kurt, leaving The man to bang and punch aimlessly in fury and rage-filled abandon. He kept punching, and punching, and punching, and punching, and showed no signs of slowing down. Kurt has never been this angry in his lifetime, and the AI saw this as an advantage, an opportunity. The AI tried to seize the moment but kept getting denied due to Kurt's anger.

"Kurt, stop!" Axton tried to yell as he caught up to the man who was punching aimlessly at the giant metal door. He wasn't going to be able to break this door, but he didn't care. He was too pissed at his loss.

"Kurt, please!" Gaige yelled trying to stop him.

Kurt finally began to cool down as he banged his head against the door, and slid down to his knees while shutting his eyes. Axton looked at the grieving boy who had his face to the door. He walked up to Kurt slowly and extended out his arm

"Kurt...I'm so sorry.." He said putting his hand on Kurt's neck...A fatal mistake on Axton's part.

"NO AXTON DON'T!" Kurt yelled, but it was too late

_'A new host..._' The parasite said as an electrical pulse passed between Axton and Kurt. The AI began to take hold of Axton's nervous system. He was released from Kurt's grasp and Axton was left to deal with the AI that was slowly consuming his body.

"Axton!" Maya screamed as she saw Axton fall against the wall.

"No..." Kurt silently said as he scrambled to tend to Axton who was sitting down leaning against the wall with his head hanging down. Kurt put his hands on Axton's shoulders and spoke to him softly,

"Axton...You okay?" Kurt said looking at the Commando.

Axton slowly lifted his head up to reveal that an ample amount of blood was trickling down his face, and his Iris changed from a hazel-green, to a light orange color. He was infected by the AI.

"No.." Kurt said in horror as he saw his friend become consumed with the AI that was inside of him as his rage began to slowly build up and up again. Kurt was kicked off of Axton by the Commando's brute force acquire from the armor. He slowly stood up between grunts and breaths to reveal his new eye color to the rest of the hunters.

"Axton..." Maya said quietly in horror watching the love of her life get poisoned by this rage.

Axton began to strike. He charge at Kurt and began to send out a flurry of punches, which was blocked thanks to Kurt superhuman reflexes given by the suit. He finally had a firm grip on Axton so he was about 4 inches away from him.

"Damnit Axton snap out of it!" Kurt yelled to his friend "Don't let the AI take over!"

Axton wasn't budging, he was trying his hardest to try and kill Kurt, despite him not being in control of his own body.

"Salvador! Get ready to restrain him!" Kurt yelled to Salvador who was nearby

"B-But I-"

"JUST DO IT!" Kurt yelled at Sal not letting him finish his own sentence. Salvador took position behind Axton, ready to catch him and hold him down so Kurt could do...Whatever he needed to do. Kurt then let out a large shove, sending Axton flying into Salvador's arms. Due to Sal's arms being similar to vise grips, Axton wasn't going anywhere. As he shouted and tried to escape from the lock he was put in by Salvador. Maya slowly walked up to Axton and looked into his literally bloodshot eyes and begun to slightly tear up.

"Axton...It's me Maya..." Maya tried to say approaching him, only to be stopped by Kurt,

"Get away from him!" Kurt yelled as he ran to the ship "He has no idea who he is anymore!"

Kurt then came racing back with a syringe in his hand as he approached Axton. He took aim at Axton's pressure point and injected the syringe in his neck, causing Axton to scream in pain. As the fluid began to seep inside of the Commando, he began to struggle less, and less, and less, until finally, he was knocked unconscious. Kurt took a deep breath and removed the Syringe from Axton's body and throwing it on the ground. Maya walked up to Kurt and asked him worried.

"What did you do?!" She asked

"Small dose of anesthesia," Kurt said through pants "We need to take him back to Sanctuary and fast."

"Why?!" Maya asked again

"Because we just have to!" Kurt retorted

One of the remaining Soldiers walked up to Kurt and asked him calmly, "What are your orders sir?"

Kurt let out a sigh, but then responded "Take my father back to Sanctuary, we'll have to Fast-travel back to Sanctuary. Wait for instructions there,"

"Yes sir.." The Soldier responded walking away.

Kurt looked at Axton's unconscious body for a second before looking at Zero's body. "Zero, help me grab Axton, we gotta move,"

Zero looked at Kurt for a few seconds then replied with "Alright.."

Zero took one shoulder on Axton body, and Kurt took the other as they hoisted Axton up to their height. They then proceeded to drag his body towards the Fast travel station. Gaige made the selection to Sanctuary and they pressed travel.

* * *

Their bodies were digitally reconstructed in the city of Sanctuary. They had to make haste to the doctors office which was located not too far from the Headquarters. Gaige caught up with Zero and Kurt who were carrying an unconscious Axton towards Dr. Zed's clinic.

"What are you gonna do Kurt?" Gaige asked walking at the same pace as him.

"Get the parasite out of him..." Kurt said carrying Axton to the clinic.

"But you said that-" Gaige tried to say, only to be interrupted by Kurt

"I have to try okay?! I'm not going to let the AI kill him!" Kurt snapped back at Gaige

Mordecai and Brick saw that Zero and Kurt were carrying an unconscious and bloody body towards the medical clinic.

"Whoa, whoa what the fuck happened to him?!" Mordecai said catching up with Zero and Kurt.

"Long story, we just have to get to Zeds!" Zero said, curiously not in Haiku.

When they got to Dr. Zed's house they were greeted by the masked doctor who was about to perform open heart surgery on the patient. Kurt along with Zero dragged in Axton and threw the guy that was on the table off and placed Axton on the table.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Zed said looking at his patient that was now on the floor.

"We have to do something to Axton or else he's gonna die!" Kurt explained strapping him down on the table "Zero! Strap that side down!" Kurt ordered pointing to the open buckle on the table, which Zero fastened tightly so Axton couldn't go anywhere anytime soon.

"...Is he going to be okay..?" Maya asked softly and worried at Kurt. He just hung his head down to the ground and let out a heavy sigh.

"...I don't know.." He muttered calmly "But I have to try!"

Kurt then grabbed a few spare wire from the back of Zed's room and placed them on the back of his spine, taping them in place so they wouldn't go anywhere. He grabbed a power core from Zed's portable clinic and placed it on the machine that was hooked up to the wires. He made sure there was no charge at this point in time. He then made sure everything was in check, he unclasped Axton's chest piece from his armor set as well as his shoulder pads and such, allowing it to collapse to the floor, followed by Kurt releasing his armor from his body, so he couno become more flexible and less bulky. The operation was ready to go.

"I'm gonna have to electrocute him to Activate his brain cells in his body, to overcome the AI." Kurt explained.

"What?!" Maya said in disbelief "Why?!"

"Because it's the only way to save him!" Kurt explained in his defense.

Kurt then walked over to the machine he hooked up to Axton's nervous system, then pressed the override button, sending a large pulse of electricity into Axton's system. Axton's initial reaction was a total scream of pain, something that none of the Vault Hunters never heard him do. The shocking stopped momentarily and Axton collapsed back on the table, only to be sent a torrent of shocking waves, sending him in a frenzy of pain once again. Maya could just look in horror at her love being hurt this badly. She was looking at him with the most saddened as well as a dampened spirit. Kurt looked to see Maya was staring at Axton, not daring to take her eyes of the commando in extreme pain.

"Zero," Kurt said "Take Maya outta here, she won't want to see this.."

And Zero did just that, he gently escorted Maya out of the building,

"Please Just leave Maya/This doesn't concern you Now/Axton will be fine," Zero said while escorting her out.

The door was shut behind Maya, Gaige, Sal, and Zero as Kurt and Zed were left to try and save Axton's life. Maya leaned up against the wall and plugged her ears with her hands while sitting down on the ground. She didn't want to hear her love suffer like this. She clenched her teeth and tried to hold back tears after every scream of agony was heard from inside the clinic. She hoped and prayed that Kurt would be able to save Axton. She's lost too much already, and she wasn't willing to lose the person she loved.

* * *

**AN: Aaaaaaaannnnnddd PLOT TWIST! Holy Crap! I mean seriously! LOOOOOONG chapter right?! Anyway, stick around and I'll try to update as soon as I can! Fave, review and follow! If you don't than I'll stab you! D: Well have a happy End of the World!**

**-LT  
**


	23. Chapter 22: Monument to your Sins

**AN: What up guys! Like usual, I'm going to answer a few questions and statement left in the reviews.**

**CJ-T-Bone: Wimp...  
**

**RatedRSuperstar87: Am I dead? Is the apocalypse happening or something?  
**

**Guest: Awww Shucks! Thanks for that review! Can't wait for that fanart! Could I have you r Deviantart name (I know I ask a lot) Just so I can find it a lot easier.  
**

**Issac Clark aka Reven: You think so? Awesome!  
**

**Starfighter-105: Situation Normal All Fucked Up...Always liked that Acronym..  
**

**Guest 2: A little late for that buddy...  
**

**Anon: Yup! Because I'm a gosh Dern theif!  
**

**Okay I'll shut up now, enjoy the chapter!  
**

* * *

Chapter 22

"GAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Axton screamed as more and more electricity was pumped into his system. Kurt needed to activate his brain cells to try and overcome the infection, to fight off the virus.

"C'mon Axton..." Kurt gritted with his teeth while shocking Axton once again "You can do it!"

The rage still consumed Axton, no matter what Kurt did. The virus was able to figure out his deepest and darkest secrets and use those against him, to make him even angrier. All of his failures have all been combined to be used against Axton's own mind. Those memories he's managed to smother and learn to forget have all been coming back to him now. His family's death, being shot by his own brother to try and expose him for what he was is to name a few.

"C'MON AXTON!" Kurt yelled as he sent an enormous jolt of electricity into AXton's system.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHH!" He cried as that last wave of electricity slowly began to darken his vision, until silence and darkness surrounded him.

* * *

Axton woke up in total darkness. He was lying down in what appeared to be a glowing pool of blood. He could hear whispers in the back of his head, they became gradually louder and louder until he could make out the voices. The parasite was playing tricks on him.

'This is all your fault Axton!' One of the voices said

'Why did you leave us Daddy?' The other voice said.

Axton slowly stood up from the ground he was lying down on to himself of the total darkness he was shrouded in. He wasn't wearing his TITAN armor anymore, but his Hyperion executive suit. He looked around and remembered the echo that happened moments before.

"Nathan..?" He echoed through the seemingly endless dark place, only to get a reply back from a hellish, cybernetic-esque voice.

"_**Nathan's not here anymore, because you left him to die..." **_The AI snarled back at Axton.

Axton was greeted with an event that unfolded in front of him like it happened 5 minutes ago. He was in hallway walking down a flight of stairs to come across a woman who was very familiar to him.

"Samantha..." Axton said looking at the familiar woman walk up to him.

"Axton...I need to talk to you about something..." Samantha said walking up to her brother-in-law.

"Well, sure. What is it?" Axton replied smiling

"It's about Jack..." She explained looking to the left

"What about him?" Axton asked craning his neck slightly to the left

"Well, it's just that...Ever since that promotion...All he cared about is his job...I mean it's great that you two got it...but...he's changed Axton...I'm starting to get worried about him...Just can you keep an eye on him?" Samantha asked

"I will...You're right...he has changed," Axton said tilting his head down.

"Thanks Axton, I can trust you more than my own husband..." Samantha said walking away from him, Axton turned around to see Samantha walk away into the darkness. The room faded into black and Axton was left to relive another memory from his cruel past.

* * *

The buildings all came into place as he walked through the city of Helios as it crumbled before his very own feet. He was left to wander the city while hearing those familiar voices once again.

'_A Siren...'_

"_A Siren...'_

'_Aggressive Expansion...'_

'_Misguided..'_

Just as that happened, a nuclear explosion went off in the center of the town, instantly vaporizing all the men, women, and children who inhabited this city. Innocent lives of people who were just doing their mundane tasks. Whether it be going to their daily jobs to put food on the table, or taking their children to school, their lives would be completely altered with a push of a single button. The lives of over 90,000 people were on his older brother's hands. As he saw the people vaporized, he walked through the abyss of pain and suffering, he heard a faint voice from the background say to him,

"_**You think these peoples blood is on your brother's hands alone?" The AI said coldly "You were there...You could have stopped him, but you didn't...because you are a coward, and a man who hides in the shadows letting innocent people die... You failed to act...And that's why you shall truly linger in the past.."**_

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Axton screamed while clenching his head

"_**I don't think so, you haven't suffered enough.."**_ The AI explained letting off a laugh.

* * *

Mombusha...Axton could remember it crystal clear, except this time, he was wandering in a streaming river of blood. He heard the screams of thousands of people as they were gunned down by Jack's private military.

"_**I must admit though..."**_ The AI said following Axton in his journey through Mombusha _**"You were resilient in this fight...Foolish...yet admirable..."**_

Axton was walking around the city, until he came across himself, stumbling around with a needle protruding from his chest. Holding a pistol in his right hand, and his left clutching the needle, in the vain attempts to ease the pain, but to no avail. He saw Mr. Blake knock Maya to the ground and about to shoot her in the face, but was interrupted by Axton's bullet travelling through his head, killing him instantly. Maya was allowed a window to escape from, and she did, leaving Axton to press onwards

"Ah...," The AI said _**"So this is the woman you saved? A Siren..."**_

Axton saw himself stumble to the ground as the pain from the needle was too unbearable. He then saw a group of Dahl soldiers storm up with their burst-fire assault rifles. They were too late, Hyperion got away. The scar that still remained on Axton's body was illuminating a faint red, that burned off his jacket and undershirt, leaving him to fumble about the illuminating wound in his chest. For some reason he was wearing his khaki pants and boots instead of the dress uniform.

"_**Your first wife correct?"**_ The AI said _**"This is the first woman you loved..?"**_

The Mombusha city faded away into darkness, and Axton was left, once again, to mourn in the shadows of his failures. The AI wasn't done with him just yet...he still had some more memories to try and fuel his rage even more.

* * *

"Oh God no..." Axton said as the Heironymus planet unfolded before his very eyes. His house he could still recognize like it was yesterday when his family was killed by his brother. He looked at the walls of his house that was smeared in blood, with words that said 'Daddy' and 'Why?' He went up stairs to see his wife Sarah, was telling something to her son.

"Mommy loves you...So does Daddy...Stay strong Nathan..." She whispered while hugging Nathan. All Axton could do is watch her Ex-Wife hold his son in her arms. Then he heard footsteps in the hallway. The door slammed open and silhouette appeared from the darkness, walking up to reveal that it was Handsome Jack...with a gun in his left hand.

"Hello.." Jack said as he pulled the trigger.

"NOOOO!" Axton screamed as he saw his older brother gun down his Wife and child.

Handsome Jack smirked at the site of the two bodies that laid dead as he slowly eased his gun down and holstered it on his thigh. He took one glance and exited the room, leaving Axton to grieve over his massive loss once again with tears in his eyes. As he knelt beside the bodies of his family. Nathan began to lift his head and speak,

"Why did you leave Daddy?" He said looking at his father.

"No! I didn't have a choice!" Axton replied pleading to his son

"This is all your fault, you don't care for us enough.." Nathan said standing up with his mother following him.

"You are a coward Axton! And nothing more!" Sarah said mocking his husband with her hand on the boys shoulder.

"You left us to die Daddy...You don't love us enough..." Nathan mumbled.

The house faded away, and only the family was left in the darkness.

"Bye Daddy..." Nathan said as the two figures drenched in blood began to slowly fade away into darkness.

"NO! NOO!" Axton cried as his family faded away, leaving him on his knees in his own shame and guilt. He felt tears stream from his face as he hung his head down low.

"Don't leave me again.." He whimpered as he stared in the eternal blackness.

"_**Yes...They must,"**_ The AI said all around him_** "Your neglect for your families safety has brought they're death on your account. Where were you while your family was murdered? Many planets away, hiding, like a true coward...How can you learn to forgive and forget when you always try to smother them...You seemed to have no problem bedding that Siren..."**_

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Axton screamed as he covered his ears.

"_**That's it Axton...Let your rage eat you alive like a leper."**_ The AI said _**"Has it ever occured to you, that this is all your fault?"**_

"_That's not true!" _A Female voice said in his mind. Axton could recognize it oh so well.

"...Angel?" Axton said looking around in the darkness

"_Axton...You can't let the AI take over like this! This isn't your fault!"_ Angel explained

Axton continued to walk on through the darkness to hear voice once again. The AI was trying to make him give in to the control.

'_You murdered my daughter who also happens to be your own Niece!'_ Jack voice echoed through his head

"_It's alright Axton..." _Angel said _"Let me help you with that," _She then said has some stairs began to appear in his vision, gleaming with a white brightness that made Axton avert his eyes for a bit.

* * *

He slowly made his way up the stairs that Angel provided, observing the construction of them, how did Angel get involved in this madness like this?"_Here, you may need this.."_ Angel explained as she constructed a tomahawk in front of him, but this one was glimmering with light and had construction that resembled Eridian work. Axton made his way towards the weapon and picked it up. As he grasped it in his hands, markings developed on his right hand as it continuously travelled up his arms. The marking resembled the same ones Angel, Lilith and Maya had.

"What's happening to me..?" Axton wondered in terror as he looked at his arm.

"_That weapon contains my life energy.." _Angel said _"It should help you out.."_

"With what?" Axton asked looking around the room.

"_Forgiveness."_ Angel finally stated _"You have to forgive yourself for what you've done. You can't let the AI win over you Axton... You loved your family dearly, and what happened to them wasn't your fault. I know that you love Maya, but you can't have reminiscence of your failures!"_

"So what?!" Axton yelled "Am I just supposed to Forget about them?! Forget they even existed?"

"_No Axton!"_ Angel explained _"You have to forgive yourself."_

As soon as Angel said that, the two figures stepped out of the shadows to greet Axton. It was Sarah and Nathan once again. He slowly approached the two figures, and looked at them for a few seconds. He then quickly held them in a tight embrace, to try and calm his mind, to forgive.

"I'm so sorry.." Axton mumbled "I never should have left.."

"It's alright Daddy..." Nathan said looking at his father "We forgive you..."

He let them go for a moment to view their faces. Sarah walked up to Axton and lightly kissed him on the forehead. She then stepped away and said to him,

"It's alright honey...Move on with your life.." she whispered softly before both of them faded into the darkness.

"_Axton, follow the light.."_ Angel said as a beam of light glistened through the eternal darkness of his mind. He did as Angel instructed while wielding the glimmering tomahawk. The markings on his body were glistening a light blue illumination, mimicking a Siren.

"Angel...Am I a.." Axton began to ask, only to be interrupted.

"_Siren? No...There is no such things as Male Sirens...I'm just lending my power to you so you can overcome the AI..."_ Angel explained

Axton observed the markings on his arm once more before pressing on towards the light. Just as he was walking towards the beam, Jack came charging at him with a knife, then another Jack ran at, him, then another, and another.

"DIE!" Jack screamed as he charged at him with a knife.

Axton was quick to smite the Jack clones with tomahawk he was provided by Angel. One by one, the clones were cut down, hacked and slashed as Axton made his way towards the light. No matter how many clones stood in Axton's path, they were smited by Axton's strength. He kept on making his way towards the shimmering light.

"_**Hmmm...It seems that you resist the power that I can provide you.."**_ The AI said _**"I have given you opportunities for you to be in complete power..It seems that I'll have to deal with you myself.."**_ He then said as he took the form of Axton, although his eyes were replaced with glowing, crackling blood stained abyss that could stare into your soul, which in this case, it did. He was emitting a dark lightness and had ample amounts of blood trickling from every orifice of his body. The AI constructed a Tomahawk that was similar to Axton's, although this one had a dark glowing emission.

"_**Now Madness and Rage consumes you...FOREVER!"**_ He yelled as he charged at Axton with his tomahawk, clashing with Axton's own.

"_You can do it Axton! Don't give up now!"_ Angel said as he was fighting himself.

Many swipes and evades were made as they were locked in a fierce combat with themselves.

The AI tried to make a swipe up high, only to have Axton dodge to the left of him and hack him straight in his back. The AI yelled in pain as he released himself from the tomahawk that was lodged in his back. He stepped back to come face to face with Axton, who was in his battle stance, braced for the AI's next move, which in this case was a head-on attack. The AI roared as he charged at Axton with his tomahawk in the air, only to catch Axton's straight in the diaphragm, then after pulling it out, Axton lodged the axe in the jugular, repeating the process over and over until he sure the AI has been vanquished. As he released the AI from his grasp, leaving it to collapse on the floor with a heavy thud. Axton dropped his tomahawk on the ground as he saw the markings on his arm fade away. Axton has done the unthinkable, he killed an Artificial intelligence, something that Kurt was unable to do, and he had prosthetics to fight back against it. Axton truly felt proud of himself at that point in time.

"You did it Axton...Just like you always do.." Angel said as she appeared in front of Axton, with her markings glowing.

"Angel...but how?" Axton said looking at his niece in disbelief

"Long story...When I died, my spirit latched on to the closest relative that was in the room at that time..In this case...You." Angel explained

"So I guess you really are my 'Guardian Angel' then" Axton mused, prompting Angel to giggle at that remark.

"Yeah, guess so.." Angel replied.

Axton looked around the dark room that surrounded him and Angel, "So how do I get outta here?" He asked Angel.

"Leave it to me.." Angel replied as her hands began to glow once more. "Take care Axton...I'll be watching..." She said after executing a phase shift on Axton. His vision became blinded by a white light, then silence surrounded him once more.

* * *

Axton slowly opened his eyes to reveal he was in a faintly lit room with his hands strapped down on an operation table. He slowly turned his head to see Kurt was fumbling around with the controls to try and save Axton, which wasn't necessary at this point in time.

"Goddamnit..I need to stabilize the spectrometer meters so that he can keep his blood flow incr...What the fuck?" Kurt said as he noticed Axton was awake on the table, causing him to rush over to the table he was strapped down on. Kurt pulled out a small flashlight and held open Axton's eyeball as he checked his Iris color. Kurt noticed that it changed from a light orange, back to his regular eye color which was a hazelish-green. He put away the flashlight and looked at Axton again.

"What is your name?" Kurt asked looking at the Commando

"...Axton," He replied raspily

"Where are you now?" Kurt asked again, making sure that Axton's mind was in one piece,

"...Sanctuary.." He then said raspy once again between breaths, which cause Kurt to sigh and hang his head slightly. He brought it up to reveal a smirk on his face.

'You did it man...You did what I couldn't," Kurt said unbuckling the straps to let Axton's arms free.

"Which is?" Axton asked rubbing his wrists,

"Killing the AI..." Kurt said putting his hand on Axton's shoulder "Do you have any idea how lucky you are to be talking to me right now? The chances of you succeeding were 4%.." Kurt explained.

"Maya...Where's Maya?" Axton asked as he came into realization.

"She's right outside. She's hardly left your side since you were knocked out." Kurt explained pointing his thumb outside.

"How long was I out?" Axton asked still on the table,

"Bout 3 hours, give or take." Kurt said

"Jesus...Felt lot quicker.." Axton pondered remembering what he had to go through

"Well, I'll go get Her. She'll be glad to know you're safe," Kurt said walking out of the Clinic.

Axton could hear some female chatter, as well as some male chatter from outside of the clinic. He then heard a loud thud from the door as Maya came rushing in to greet Axton with a tight embrace. Axton was slightly surprised at first, but then eased up and returned the embrace while stroking her hair. He was lucky to be alive and in one piece.

"I thought I lost you..." Maya whimpered as she buried her head into his neck.

"It's okay Maya...I'm here now.." Axton whispered in her ear while stoking her baby-blue hair.

Zero walked in followed by Salvador and the rest of the Vault hunters to come see the man who fought a battle within his mind, and live to tell the tale.

"Jesus! You scared the dick off us Pendejo!" Salvador said crossing his arms.

"Man...You were out for like 3 hours..." Mordecai said looking at his watched.

"Good to know you're here/ A battle fought in the mind/ Is a vicious one," Zero poetically explained with a smiley emoticon on his face.

"Axton is a total BAMF!" Gaige exclaimed looking at the alive and well Commando.

"It's truly amazing that he's still talking to us now!" Kurt mused "But, it may have never happened, if I didn't...Damnit.." Kurt mumbled storming out of the room, realizing that Axton almost died because he couldn't keep his anger in check. His father was murdered by the Hyperion president, and he was left to run one of the biggest corporations in the world. Shortly after he stormed out, Gaige took one look at Axton and Maya, receiving a nod from the Siren and a smirk. She returned with a smirk and went to go catch up with Kurt.

* * *

Kurt was leaning against a wall, looking out to the horizon, it was about sunset and the night was closing in on them. Gaige walked up behind Kurt and stood beside him.

"Hey...What's up?" Gaige said rubbing her arm in the attempts to try and get an idle conversation going on between them.

"Thinking about things.." Kurt replied not looking back at Gaige.

"Yeah? Bout what?" She asked looking at him, seeing Kurt drop his head slightly and let out a sigh.

"Every decision I have ever made ends with death and misery..." Kurt said in a low tone "No matter what I do...Death and suffering always seems to find a way to get me."

"Hey That's not true!" Gaige objected to Kurt's statement "You just saved Axton's life!"

"Gaige, that could have been avoided if I didn't snap!" Kurt explained looking at the Mechromancer.

"Kurt...You father was killed, I think Axton understands" Gaige scoffed putting her flesh hand on his shoulder.

"That's besides the point.." Kurt explained "If I knew how to control my rage...This wouldn't have happened.. I can't do anything right Goddamnit.."

"You know that's a lie.." Gaige replied looking into his eyes.

"I just don't know anymore Gaige.." Kurt said "I can't discern right from wrong, or what emotions have to be conflicted with or a way to-"

"Kurt." Gaige said interrupting him.

"Yeah?" He replied looking at him weird.

"Stop talking." She stated before leaning herself towards Kurt to kiss him on the lips.

Just as any persons reaction, Kurt was completely stunned and blown away that Gaige was doing something like this. He then eased up and realized that his emotions couldn't be controlled for any longer that the needed to be, as he returned the kiss to the girl while leaving his eyes slightly open to still see the girl he was locking lips with. Is this what being in love was like? Kurt thought to himself as he continued to kiss her. He reckoned he has never felt a greater feeling like that before. He could've sworn he heard a couple of fireworks and explosions go off in his head as he continued to kiss her. He moved his arms around Gaige's waist pulling her in closer as they continued to lock lips. She was blushing more than if somebody took a red marker and smeared it all over her face, but she absolutely loved the way Kurt's lips felt on her own.

"Bout damn time..." Axton mused looking at the two as Maya helped the limp soldier make his way out of the clinic to view the young lovers, he then caught a glimpse of one of the TITAN soldier walk up to Kurt.

"Sir..." The TITAN Soldier said interrupting the kiss between the two.

'_Fuckin' perfect Timing..'_ Kurt thought to himself while turning his attention to the soldier.

"You father's body is ready, sir..." The soldier said, causing Kurt to hang his head down a bit, and remember what he's lost.

* * *

The citizens of Sanctuary gathered around the front of the town to see the TITAN soldiers carry the deceased Albert Thatcher on a stretcher to towards the ship. Sir Hammerlock slowly removed his hat from his head and place it on his chest, as a symbol of respect towards the fallen. Moxxi was tearing up and sniffling a bit as she saw the lifeless body of Kurt's father being carried to the ship, even Marcus was guilty of tearing up slightly. The Vault Hunter's were gathered near the ship, Axton was holding Maya close while rubbing his arm, he didn't want to lose her again. Kurt slowly made his way towards the body of his father, he reached into his holster and pulled out the 1911 he was lugging around. As he placed it on his father's chest he said quietly to the body,

"What am I gonna do, Dad?" Kurt mumbled as he stood up to let the soldiers carry the body into the ship.

"Sir.." Royce said walking up to Kurt "You're now the leader of Thatcher industries...what are your orders?"

Kurt looked at the ground for a bit, then lifted his head up. "Go back to Eden-5, you're needed there, we can take it from here on out..Bury my father with dignity.." He explained to the soldier.

"Yes sir...and Kurt?" Royce said, causing Kurt to look at him again.

"Yes?" Kurt replied, leaving Royce to look around for a bit,

"Good luck Kurt...Show that bastard what-for.." Royce explained to his commanding officer.

"Thank you, Harry," Kurt said putting his cybernetic hand on Harold's shoulder.

The soldiers made their way back onto the giant ship. Power to the main thrusters was activated as the engines began to come back to life once more. The ship began to seemingly levitate, then finally sail off into the air, leaving Pandora and it's denizens there. Kurt turned his attention towards the Vault hunters, then looked at Axton specifically.

"Axton." Kurt said sternly "We have work to do.." Axton nodded as they made their way back to the headquarters, to prepare for the final assault on Jack...

* * *

Axton was checking the action of his rifle and barrel to make sure it was cleaned and ready for action tomorrow. Maya came into check on her love, she's become more vigilant and vicarious about him. She didn't want him to leave like that again.

"Axton.." She began softly

Axton spun around to come face to face with the Siren he loved, "Yes?" He replied looking at her bright hazel eyes.

"I just came to check on you that's all..." She said rubbing her arm.

"Well I'm alright as you can plainly see.." He replied putting his gun on the table. "Is there something else?"

"No...Nothing I guess.." Maya replied looking at the ground, causing Axton to look at her concerned.

"What is it Maya?" Axton asked walking up to her, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"It's just that.." Maya began "I just...I don't want to lose you again.."

"Maya," Axton replied sternly "I'm not leaving you."

"But...When you were infected...I thought you were going to-" She tried to say, only to be interrupted by a kiss from Axton.

"Maya. I. Am. Never. Leaving. You." He said between smacks.

"Promise?" She said looking into his green eyes,

"Promise." He answered pulling her in for a more prolonged kiss.

Maya has been needing this for so long, another night in heaven with the love of her life. The same could be said for Axton, who was just as eager as the Siren he was kissing. Axton began to kiss and gnaw a bit at Maya's neck, which drove her insane, she absolutely loved it when Axton kissed her in that spot. Like that last time, Axton was led to the bed by Maya as they continued to kiss onward.

Kurt and Gaige walked in the room to see the two lovers at work with each other, prompting Kurt to say to the Mechromancer,

"I think you should sleep upstairs tonight..." Kurt said looking away from Axton and Maya

"Ya think?" Gaige replied as he followed Kurt up the steps "Maybe we can get into some REAL kissing upstairs..."

"Looking forward to it," Kurt smirked as they both walked up the steps of the Headquarters.

Axton and Maya continued to lock lips and slowly remove each others garments. Axton's lips slowly trailed down her body as they came into contact with her breasts, which he suckled and caressed gently, sending Maya into a frenzy of moans and yelps of pure ecstasy and pleasure. She brought her hand onto his hair and ran her fingers through his own hair while he sucked her dry. He brought his head up once again to kiss the beautiful lips that belonged to the Siren. He wish that this night could've lasted forever. Maya began to trail her hands across his back, lightly scraping at the skin on it. She slowly unbuckled his pants while still locking lips with him and let them slide off naturally. She was pleased to see that he was hard as a rock from the viewpoint here, she couldn't get over how amazing that member felt inside of her body, how warm and inviting it truly was. Axton did the similar thing to Maya, as he unbuckled her khaki pants and pull them off gently to reveal her (wet) private part. Axton always heard a flute go off in his head whenever he saw that little pink thing. He reached his hand to where her organ was and began to rub his finger around the outside of it, causing her to moan, shiver, look him dead in the eye in ecstasy. He slowly slid a finger inside and began rubbing all around it, making her slightly whimper as she felt his finger inside of her. After about 2 minutes, he slid out his finger and got himself prepped for the big entry. He didn't dare take his eyes off the the Siren as he slowly slid himself inside of her. When she felt the first lapses of penetration, she bit her lip and moaned and was blushing more and more. When she felt Axton inside of her, he had already pulled slightly out to thrust once more into her system, sending a shiver in her spine along with a shriek of mixed pain and pleasure. He continued the thrust constantly inside of her as the two were enveloped in a kiss between themselves. He didn't want Maya to make too much noise, because the last time it was quite awkward with Salvador when he knew about the...episode. With each pounding heave as Axton continuously kept a stride of pleasure, Maya could feel herself coming close to climax. As the thrusting increased in tempo, she was moaning Axton's name more and more until she hit her climax. She let off a shriek that was like music to Axton's ears as he climaxed as well, shouting her name while he heaved insider of her. Their juices were mixed together as Axton collapsed on Maya, leaving them both pant and pant after their intercourse. Their sweaty bodies were sticking together as if it were glue. After a minute of relaxation, Axton rolled off of Maya and pulled her in close for an embrace.

"Do you love me?" Maya asked softly while smiling.

"More than life itself." Axton replied smirking at the girl he held close.

"I love you too.." Maya replied kissing his lips once more. Axton held the Siren close in his arms as she slowly drifted off into dreamland, where she was free to picture Axton in them, at least he hoped. Before shutting his eyes to join Maya in her slumber, he thought to himself.

'_This is is Jack...I'm coming for you..'_

* * *

**AN: God...I feel so dirty now...*Shiver* Anyways Thanks for reading this chapter guys! hope you enjoyed it! Don't forget to Review, Fave and Follow! If you don't then I'll stab you again... Anyways, have a Merry Christmas, Happy Haunakah, Happy Kwanza, and a Happy Holidays, and if you don't prefer that, then Happy Shut-the-fuck-up!**

**-LT  
**


	24. Final Chapter: The End is Nigh

** AN: Hey guys! Now I know I haven't updated recently and I'm truly sorry. The Holiday spirit and what not kept me from updating more and more chapters! Now that this chapter is now on, I would like to address some comments in the reviews.**

**Issac Clarke AKA Reven: Bom Chicka Bom-Wow  
**

**RatedRSuperstar87: I'll have to admit..It was super fun writing that part!  
**

**TerrorByteTC: Insomnia, ho!  
**

**GJ115: Yep..lot of inspiration from that game..Vaas may be one of the best Villains ever.  
**

**Guest: It's not working! WHY?!  
**

**starfighter_105: That game was pretty good, but I felt it lost it's re playability really fast.  
**

**CJ-T-Bone: Just kiddin man!  
**

**Avangantamos: Wow really? AWESOME!  
**

**That's it! Now enjoy the FINALE.  
**

* * *

Final Chapter: The End is Nigh

Axton woke up from his sleep to see that the beautiful siren was sleeping soundly beside him in a lazy embrace, with one leg wrapped around his body, and her face was snuggled closely, resting on his upper chest. Another night in heaven with the woman he loved dearly, what more can a man ask for? The way she shrieked and moaned his name was just an orchestra in itself. Maya was a pretty natural kisser according the commando, considering she hasn't been around other men besides him. He stroked a strand of blue hair like it was on his everyday schedule, despite him kinda liking her face with some strands of hair would fall naturally on her face, gave him something to fiddle with in the morning. Axton looked softly at the woman sleeping like a baby while pondering about what happened when he went to sleep. Like the few nights before, he had a dream, not a nightmare, but a dream. He wasn't reliving the deaths of his ex-wife and his son, nor of Jack nuking the city of Helios, he was reliving the train crash in the southern shelf of Pandora...

* * *

'_It's cute that y'all think you're the heroes of the story, but you're not...Welcome to Pandora, kiddos!" was all Axton could remember as the bomb that was strapped to the fake Jack detonated, sending the train into a symphony of destruction and chaos. Darkness and the cold shrouded Axton as he was plunged out of the train into the harsh winter tundra of Pandora._

_After lying face-down in snow, Axton began to regain consciousness and open his eyes to behold the train wreckage that Jack caused. Axton slowly stood up, coughing out some blood to look around at the mayhem that was caused._

"_We're not finished Jack..." Axton muttered while gritting his teeth from the pain he endured "Not even close..."_

_As soon as the Commando said that statement that was arguably colder than the wind, he heard a slight cough from behind him. He turned around to reveal a tattooed hand was sticking out of the snow, trying to grasp onto anything it could to try and pull themselves out of the snow. Axton quickly made his way to the hand, taking a firm grasp with his right hand on the one sticking in the ice. He gave one heave to release the person from the cold grasp of winter itself. He yanked the body out from the snow and up on her feet, revealing that the Siren was stuck under the snow. The siren dusted off the snow that was in her body before looking up a the man with her bright eyes. Axton reckoned he hadn't met a girl before who's beauty came close to this woman. She was definitely a looker this one._

"_Thank you, Soldier.." Maya said with common courtesy towards the person who saved her, causing the man to scoff._

"_Hey, I got a name, it's Axton..." He said holding out his hand, causing the Siren to yelp and cover her mouth with her hands, containing the gasp she gave out at the sight of his hand._

"_Oh my God! What happened to your hand?!" She yelled pointing at his hand._

_Axton scrunched his eyes and nose a bit, wondering what the girl was talking about. He shifted his eyes downwards to where the girl was pointing at, revealing that he dislocated his hand and it was shifted downwards in a mangled position. He cocked an eyebrow to inspect the hand, letting out a small chuckle._

"_Well how bout that.." Axton mused looking at it closer, noticing that it was moving in a slight spastic way._

"_Wha-Why-Doe-Doesn't it hurt?!" She yelled holding her hands out in front of her in total disbelief of Axton's unawareness and overall calmness._

"_Kinda.." He replied moving it around._

"_We gotta go to a doctor for that!" She yelled pointing at him._

"_Nah.." Axton said giving off a shake of his head._

"_But you-your arm-is dislo-" She began only to hear a rather loud _**KRAKT **_sound coming from Axton's arm, as he forcefully repositioned his left hand with his right. Twisting his left hand so it would be in it's original place. The crack caused Maya to cringe, grit her teeth and avert her eyes at the sight of such a thing._

"_-cated.." She finished quietly putting her hand down to the ground, causing Axton to smile a bit._

"_Oh, my names Maya by the way.." She said holding out her hand, prompting Axton to shake it, while brightening his smirk a bit._

"_Charmed." He said "You're a Siren right?"_

"_Yes.." She replied "How'd you know?"_

"_Those tattoo's ain't for nothing.." He explained motioning her left arm, causing her to slightly blush. They shift their attention towards the blizzard to see a blue light began to glow slightly brighter and breather with each coming second. Finally the thing was close enough to see that the blue eye belonged to a funny little Hyperion robot._

"_Ohhh great.." The Mechanical robot moped making his way around with a shovel scooping out chunks of snow "Another dead Vault Hunter. Handsome Jack's been busy..."_

"_Not exactly.." Axton replied looking at the funny little robot shoveling snow, causing to shift it's attention toward the voice._

_"Wait a minute - You're not dead! YES!" The robot exclaimed "Now I can get off this glacier! Claptrap, your metaphorical ship has finally come in!" It said wheeling up to the two figures._

_"Allow me to introduce myself - I am CL4P-TP steward bot, but my friends call me Claptrap! Or they would, if any of them were still alive...Or had existed in the first place!" He explained sounding slightly annoyed._

_"Oh!" He remembered "I've got something for you! Here - take this ECHO communicator that I totally didn't loot from one of these corpses," He then said handing them two separate Echo's to both of the hunters, causing them to move it around in curiosity._

"_Cool.." Maya said quietly admiring the recorders._

_"Man, this is great!" The Robot said turning his back on the hunters. "Now that I've met a mighty Vault Hunter, I can finally join the resistance in Sanctuary, take vengeance against Jack for killing my product line, and repair my central processor so I can stop thinking out loud! I wonder what it's like to have a belly button?" He wondered wheeling away._

_Maya rolled her eyes and was about to follow after the robot, only to be stopped by the Commando beside her, prompting her to look at him, to match up with his look._

"_There were two others on the same train car, we're gonna he need all the help we can get.." He explained pointing back at the wreckage like a hitchhiker._

_Maya let out a sigh and replied "Alright...Let's go.."_

* * *

In Axton's opinion, it was very strange that a couple of nights ago he dreamed about something that could happen in the relative future, then recently dreaming of something that actually happened in the past, ironically being the first time he actually exchanged words with the woman. And why where they happening now? He decided not to think anything of it. He kissed Maya's forehead rather rough and settled back into sleep a bit more.

It was Maya's turn to wake up to find the love of her life holding her close in a warm, inviting brace. She fluttered her eyes open and smiled lightly at the sight of Axton sleeping rather peacefully beside her. For being the first man she's actually ever opened up to, she was convinced that this is the one. But she figured that this moment couldn't last any longer. She slowly kissed the tip of his nose, causing him to let out a lazy moan and shift his head a bit on the small pillow, causing her to slightly giggle.

"Axton..." She whispered to him closely,

"Mmmm?" He moaned not opening his eyes.

"We gotta get up..." She explained rubbing his shoulder a bit.

"...M'kay.." He lazily said as he opened his eyes and sat up on the bed, scratching his hair.

Maya stood up from her bed, putting on the tactical suit she was given by the Order on herself, then pulling up her khaki pants and putting the belt on them. Axton grabbed his Army pants from under the bed and slipped them on under the covers, then standing up from the bed, he searched around, trying to find his shirt, eventually coming across it, crumpled and on the other side of the room. After he slipped the shirt over his head, putting his arms through the sleeves, he spun around to lock lips with the Siren once again, he returned it slightly then pulling away, eager to find out the reasoning behind it.

"You were _Amazing_ last night..." She said once again stressing _Amazing._

Axton let out a small chuckle and reply with "Likewise.."

"So...is today?" Maya was about to ask, only to be interrupted by the commando,

"Yes...The final assault on Jack..." He said looking down clenching his fists slightly "I have to go wake up Kurt, get prepped." He explained rushing up the steps, leaving Maya to do some quick little touch ups on her face with the makeup...Again.

Axton walked up the steps to be greeted with Kurt and Gaige sleeping rather close together. Thatcher has his shirt off and was holding the girl in his arms. Axton pointed the barrel of his gun and began to slap Kurt's face around, causing him to finally wake up and let out a tired groan.

"Rise and shine, Lover-boy." Axton said looking down at the two.

"Kurt sat up from the mattress and turned his attention towards Axton who is now facing him at the moment.

"That better not become one of those gimmicky nicknames you call me from now on.." Kurt mumbled rubbing his eyes a bit yawning slightly, causing the girl who was sleeping with him to sigh a bit and snuggle more in the covers. Kurt let out a little scoff and rubbed Gaige's shoulder.

"Gaige..wake up..." Kurt said rubbing her more and more.

Gaige fluttered her eyes open to see both the person she loved and a rather mellow Commando standing right in front of her. She rubbed her eyes with her flesh hand to try and clear her vision more.

"Oh... 'Mornin'" She said sitting up from the bed.

Kurt shifted his attention back to Axton to see why Axton himself came to wake Kurt up.

"Axton...Is it?" He began, only to be interrupted by Axton .

"Yeah...It's time.." Axton said shifting his attention to be more serious. Kurt's face also felt the icy chill that Axton spread amongst the two, as Kurt tensed his face, to a more bitter appearance to it.

"Alright..." Kurt said nodding slightly "Let's go..."

"Request Confirmed," the machine said to Axton as he put on the tactical shirt that Kurt provided. Kurt looked at Axton when he stepped into the machine, but then turning his attention back to the TITAN armor on himself, kneeling down to check his shin armor bracings. A laser was heard from inside the machine, followed by the doors sliding open to reveal a commando that was fully suited up with the exception of his helmet.

_"_Fits like a glove.." Axton mused moving his hands in front of him to inspect the wrist armor.

"At least the glove part.." Kurt said standing up to see the armor the Commando was given.

"Har Har.. The scientist is a fuckin' comedian..." Axton scoffed as he whacked the back of Kurt's head while he walked over to the table to check his rifle.

"No, no, we're not using those," Kurt said pointing at the rifle Axton had in his hand.

"Then which ones are we using?" Axton asked putting the gun on the table.

"You'll see when we get there," Kurt replied picking up his helmet.

Mordecai came down the stairs to meet up with the already suited up in their military armor.

"Alright amigos, this is it," Mordecai said walking up to the two soldiers putting the sniper rifle on his back holster, "Win or lose, we're gonna finish this right here and now...For Bloodwing...For Roland...FOR PANDORA!" He yelled holding his fist in the air. "Now I'll come in on the hijacked barge to storm the side of the Hyperion bunker. You guys can make it up through the main bunker with Claptrap."

"Actually," Axton interrupted "We got a plan of our own on the siege." He then said looking at Kurt.

"Oh..." Mordecai said scratching his head "I guess that'll work...Does it have to do with the ship the TITAN soldiers left?"

"Yep.." Kurt answered. "You should go tell the others about the final assault.." He then said turning to Axton.

"Ummm, excuse me?" A thick Russian accent said from inside of the door.

The three of them spun around to see Marcus Kincaid was standing outside of the door.

"Yeah?" Axton asked looking at the sleazy salesman.

"Well..If it helps at all...Make sure you do in that bastard...Not because he's been diminishing my business with every coming day, it's because Jack is a murdering son of a bitch who needs to die!" He exclaimed smashing his hand against his other. Marcus pulled out a Vladof Spinigun that was holster and held it out in front of Axton.

"Here...This is the Vladof Shredifier...Best assault rifle they make...Thought you could use it." He said handing it to Axton.

"Yeah...this will do fine...Thanks Marcus.." Axton said admiring the assault rifle.

"Of course, I want it back when you kill him," Marcus smirked pointing at the gun.

"Figures.." Axton scoffed holstering the gun on his back.

"Sup sucka? Tina here!" She said over the ECHO "Hope you kill Jack super good! Here's poem I wrote for this certain occasion: BREAK IT DOWN!" She yelled before clearing her throat "Kill Jack, kill Jack, kill Jack, Kiiiiill Jack, Kill Jaaaaaaack, killlllll Jaaaaack! A poem by Tiny Tina.." She mumbled before shutting off the ECHO unit.

Axton chuckled a bit after hearing Tina's encouragement to take down the president of Hyperion. She always had to have her input in a very crazy way. Roland was right about Tina, the fact that she was quite an odd specimen, but the most gifted in explosions on the planet. She's helped the hunters in many knots and loops. They couldn't have stopped the train if is wasn't for Tina.

"...Ermmm...Well...Good luck.." Marcus said walking out the door, presumably to tend to the shop.

"Who was just here?" Maya asked coming down the steps after waking everybody up from the upstairs room.

"Marcus," Axton answered turning around to face the Siren "He just dropped off a gun that's all..."

"Oh...since when does Marcus give out guns for free?" She wondered putting her hands on her hips.

"Technically he's lending it to us...Didn't think it be that easy would you?" He asked jokingly letting off a smirk.

"Ready Amigo?" Salvador asked picking up the two M79 Machine guns Kurt supplied on his back.

"Yeah...Kurt and I will take a separate route towards the convoy. Got a suprise lined up for Jack.." Axton explained to his other Vault hunters.

"What are you Planning? Surely a frontal assault, will likely bring death." Zero said walking up to Axton, prompting the commando to put a hand on his friends shoulder.

"Don't worry man, we got this.." Axton replied patting his shoulder.

"Here...If we don't make it.." Mordecai mumbled pulling out a rather large knife with a jagged and sharp teeth like blade on one side of the knife, followed by a smooth and very sharp edge on the other side.

"It's Roland's knife.." Mordecai added "He would've wanted you to have it..."

Axton twisted the blade around in his hands, taking note of the lightness of the actual blade and the balance of it. He put the blade into a holster on the lower-back side of his armor, sliding in to the horizontally shaped holster, then looked back up at Mordecai,

"Don't worry," Axton stated "We'll make it..."

"...So this is it huh?" Brick asked joining in the conversation "Can't wait to break into the Hyperion compound, grab Lilith, then smash the shit out of Jack.." He then said pumping his fists.

"Alright.." Axton muttered "You guys go find Claptrap so you can disable the first Hyperion wall, allowing access into the chambers. We'll meet you inside of the compound so we can take the fight to Jack...Had enough of that asshole.."

'Why aren't you coming with us?" Maya asked looking at Axton.

"This way we can better our chances of success...Just trust me Maya, ok?" Axton explained to the Siren.

"Okay..." Maya muttered "Let's go then guys.."

The Siren walked out of the door, followed by the Gunzerker, who looked at Axton and patted his arm once.

"See ya on the inside, Amigo.." He said then proceeding to walk out of the door.

Zero followed behind the Gunzerker, along with the Mechromancer, who took one look at Kurt, then walking out of the door to catch up with Maya. Brick also took his leave to follow the other Hunters, with Mordecai. The original hunters would take the Hyperion barge they stole from the convoy and provide extra support for the ground forces. Axton and Kurt were left inside of the building, leaving them to let out a large breath of air before Kurt broke the silence.

"Alright..." He muttered "Let's finish this..."

* * *

"Minion!" Claptrap exclaimed with a hint of heroism "Let's go to the Eridium Blight! It's time to end this!"

Claptrap proceeded to speed towards the fast travel station, followed by the four hunters who were considered ground forces. Maya made the selection to the Eridium Blight and pressed the travel button.

The four hunters along with ClapTrap were digi structed in front of the main gate, that was heavily guarded with the best Hyperion weaponry they could afford. The could see the enormous wall that guarded the entrance to where Jack could awaken the ultimate Eridian warrior to obey his every command. You could still see the dents on the door due to Kurt punching them out of rage.

"Mmmmm, feel that?" Jack hummed over the ECHO "Lilith is almost done charging the key, with its power, I can change the face of Pandora for good..."

"Minion! It's time to take the fight to Jack! You hear that Jack?!" Claptrap yelled to the metal door "You destroyed my entire assembly line! I am the only remaining Claptrap in the world! We will emerge victorious, and I am going to teabag your corpse!" He then exclaimed racing towards the giant gate, then pressed the buttons on the door while laughing

"Ha! Ha! Ha! You think doors will stop me Jack?! I was MADE to open doors!" Claptrap mocked typing in more buttons "AAAAAAAAAND OPEEEEEEEN!" He yelled to the bunker.

"Access denied." The machine replied

"What?! I said 'AAAAND OPEEEN', not AAAAAND Close a secondary door!" Claptrap yelled in disbelief

"Additional troops deployed," The machine said once again.

"No No!" Claptrap protested "I didn't say AAND Dispatch additional troops either! PROTECT ME SQUIRES!" Claptrap yelled while fidgeting with the button pad.

"Two guns, Bitches!" Salvador yelled has his two M79's began to rip apart the Hyperion soldiers as the barrel started to become red from the intense work it was being put through. "Rock and roll!" He yelled as he fired the last of his magazine in the air as if it were fireworks bursting in the night sky.

Zero was busy at work practicing his slicing skills with the Hyperion soldiers and he cleanly sliced their bodies with ease and grace. Zero stabbed the body of a Hyperion soldier, followed by making a perfect slice where the torso met the hips, disconnecting the body from the legs, then slicing his neck so there was 3 even pieces. He kicked the torso piece of the soldier out of the puzzle, leaving the head spinning in the air momentarily. Zero came down with a straight chop that split the head into to two perfect parts. Zero cleaned off his blade with his arm, letting the blood drip off of his wrist in small drops, before returning to the battle at hand.

"C'mon Baby!" Claptrap yelled caressing the button pad with his clampers "Don't be like that! Open up for daddy?"

"Access...Granted "The machine said as the two doors began to slowly open.

"WAIT WHAT?! I ACTUALLY DID SOMETHING?!" Claptrap shouted "I'M USEFUL!" He yelled waving his hands around like a drunken hooligan after figuring out his favorite team was victorious.

"Now we shall take the fight to Jack!" Claptrap yelled with the door opening behind him "I will lead you in a charge against Hyperion! For PANDORA!" He yelled while turning around to see...

Stairs.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" He yelled in defeat as his ultimate nemesis has come back to haunt him. He slowly turned around to face the vault hunters before gloomily saying,

"You guys have to go on ahead...Make your master proud.."

The hunters left Claptrap to sulk in despair about how Jack outsmarted him with such a simple architect as stairs.

"After this is done/ I must have a word with him/ I serve nobody," Zero said as he walked up the steps with the other hunters.

The four came up the flight to reveal a heavy dispatchment of troops have waited for their arrival and opened fire on them. They all took covers behind some form of protection, mostly rocks and cement stoppers were used.

"Jesus! Theres a fuckin army in there!" Salvador yelled, taking cover from the storm of bullets being sent towards them.

"Slab!" Brick yelled over the ECHO "Were coming in hot!"

As soon as the microphone was cut off, a large roar could be heard as the Hyperion barge that was driven by Mordecai himself began to speed up slightly and spin around to reveal the main hatch. Brick took a giant leap to the fortress that is run by Handsome Jack, willing to provide all the support to the vault hunters as he could in order to save Lilith. Brick pulled the large sledgehammer the had from his back out, proceeding to smash soldiers as well as Loaders into the ground. He left no survivors in his wake as he brutally and without pity bludgeoned and smashed all the soldiers we could find. Mordecai would never miss a shot when it came to the Thatcher Arms sniper he was given. With that sniper, he even became a better shot sober.

"Axton!" Maya cried as she was shooting down more and more Soldiers by the second "Where are you?!"

"Here.." A Voice said through the Echo as soon as she said that.

* * *

"So you sure this outer armor will help us?" Axton asked putting on the last pieces to the TITAN extension.

"Battle tested Axton...If anything it will buy us time...at least for them.." Kurt explained looking down at the ground of the ship the two they were flying in. The last Thatcher Inc. ship that was on Pandora, was now being driven into the heart of the mountain. The ship was on a auto pilot that perched itself calmly on a ledge of the Hyperion bunker, just outside the main gate.

"Were these the guns you were talking about?" Axton asked pointing to the giant Machine guns that were mounted to the wall.

"Yeah...50 Caliber machine guns..." Kurt said looking down on the ground,

"Grab 'em," Axton replied "We're gonna be arriving soon."

As soon as Axton said that, bullet holes began to pierce the inside of the hull, prompting them to take evasive maneuvers.

"Jesus.." Kurt said raising his head up slowly "Sooner than we think..."

"Alright...Get Ready!" Axton said putting on his helmet and making the adjustments on the suit, such as activating his HUD and rolling his shoulders a bit. Axton grabbed one of the giant machine guns that bears an uncanny resemblance to the M79 Machine gun. With the exception of the belt-fed magazine, as well as a advanced stock and barrel cooling apparatus' attached. Axton tossed the machine gun over to Kurt as he caught it and placed it on the table so he could put on his helmet.

"This is it...We finish this once and for all..." Axton coldly growled cocking back the charging handle of the gun. Kurt fastened his helmet and picked up his gun, giving off a nod showing he was ready to go.

"This is for Roland.." Axton said as Kurt released the door hatch to emerge into the Hyperion camp, locked and loaded with the best heavy weaponry as well as armor, coming equipped with Kevlar, khaki braces as well as new plates of armor for themselves.

Both of the hunters jumped out of the ship and braced themselves for an epic battle, all that took to ignite it was a single pull of a trigger...

_**Click**_

As soon as that click was heard, there came a torrent a bullets as well as banging noises to follow. The soldiers were literally being torn to shreds as the 50 caliber bullets passed through their stomachs or heads. Axton and Kurt proceeded to make their way towards the base to see Maya along with the other hunters were pinned down nearby. They were going to providing support for the hunters, and they were going to do it properly, with 50 caliber machine guns.

"Maya! We're coming in!" Axton yelled through the gunfire.

Maya slowly looked to where the origin of the loud gunshots were heard. She looked at two soldiers wearing sets of heavy armor, storming headfirst into the Hyperion soldiers, ripping all of them shreds with their machine guns.

"Damn those slabs make me proud..." Brick said quietly looking at the two with heavy machine guns doing their work on the soldiers.

"Whoa..." Gaige muttered gawking at Axton an Kurt as well.

Nothing even came close to the two with their guns, slowly making their way towards the cave that led to the second vault on loaders were constructed to try and stop their push, bet to be torn apart by the guns. A true symphony of blood and chaos.

"COME ON! COME ON!" Axton yelled through the suit as he gunned down a set of engineers.

"He's got a small army in there!" Kurt yelled continuing to shoot his machine gun.

"It won't help him!" Axton replied "We have to keep moving!"

Axton and Kurt proceeded to make their way into the next part of the base, which was swarming with soldiers and loaders. They were a simple trifle for the two as they continued with their killing spree. Mordecai flew the Hyperion barge closer to the base, only to hear beeping from inside the base.

"Orbital target locked" the machine said through their ECHO devices.

"Aw fuck!" Mordecai yelled "They got a lock on me!"

The first missile was launched at Mordecai's ship, crippling it severely with that devastating blow.

"Shit! Mordecai!" Brick yelled looking at the barge on its last legs. "I'm coming for ya!"

"Brick NOO!" Mordecai yelled detesting to Brick's statement. Brick leaped into the ship to try and bust Mordecai out of the wreckage.

"Just go, Slabs!" Brick yelled inside of the ship.

"Coordinates received, firing for effect," the machine said firing off another couple of rounds.

"SHIT!" Mordecai yelled as the ship was hit with the final missile, sending the vessel into the firing lava from below. The ship was plunge into an abyss of the molten substance.

"NOO!" Axton said looking down at the wreckage if the ship.

Mordecai and Brick gave up their lives to try and save their friend from the grips of Jack. Axton knew that their sacrifices couldn't be in vain. They had to be sensible in these situations, although Axton found it hard to try living with being sensible.

"We have to keep moving," Kurt said through the helmet, hearing some bullets fly over his head as some soldiers tried to sneak a head shot on the hunters while they were distracted. They both spun around and take care on the soldiers that were behind them.

"Maya, were heading into the Vault Center now...see you inside.." Axton said making his way inside of the base.

"...alright.." She mumbled looking at Axton and Kurt making their way into the cave.

* * *

As the two walked inside of the cave to reveal the cave was blooming with the priceless alien element as well as molten lava seeping through it.

"SURPRISE!" Jack yelled through the ECHO "Hidden MAC Cannon in the wall!"

"What? What the hells he talking about?" Kurt asked looking around the cave. He caught a glimpse of the cannon that was charging up and pointed towards Axton.

"OH SHIT! LOOK OUT!" Kurt yelled to Axton, shoving him out of the MAC Cannons path, letting Kurt take the blast of the gun. The shot sent Kurt flying to the wall where he created a loud thud when his body impacted in the stone. Axton blocked his face from the blast of the explosion due to the shrapnel being scattered everywhere.

"KURT!" Axton said racing over to his friend that was shot by a MAC Cannon. Axton ran to Kurt to see that his armor took nearly all of the impact, but was quite injured due to the blast. There was a large charred hole in the center of Kurt's armor.

"Shit that hurt..." Kurt mumbled while coughing a bit.

"You alright?" Axton asked taking off the Kevlar outer armor to his set.

"Yeah...I'll be fine.." Kurt coarsely replied letting out another cough "Just keep going, I'll catch up with you.."

Axton slowly stood up from where Kurt was lying from, he was about to turn and press on, until Kurt spoke up once more.

"And Axton..." Kurt murmured, causing the commando to turn around and face him once more.

"Kick his ass..." He said coldly, prompting Axton to give off a nod and walk towards the heart of the mountain.

* * *

Axton pulled out his assault rifle that kept on his back out to his arms to provide himself with some protection. He figured that the machine gun would be too cumbersome and render him useless in a fight. He walked past a set of Hyperion screens that began to slightly flicker and reveal a fuzzy image of somebody that became clearer until it was revealed to be Handsome Jack.

"Well look who it is..." Jack said coldly on the screen projection "Come to try and kill me have you? What attempt is this now? Your 5th or something? You might as well just give up Axton..Let me charge the key, so that I can bring forth a new era of peace and prosperity to Pandora."

"Oh I've seen your idea of peace Jack. Genocide, massacre, indescribable pain and suffering!" Axton yelled at the screen.

"Well now...Isn't that ironic?" Jack added letting off a smirk "Look at the Mayhem you've caused outside! All the honest Soldiers who were just doing their jobs have you slaughtered?! Axton, you have destroyed so much! What have you actually accomplished? Can you even name me one thing?! I didn't think so..."

"Has it ever occurred to you that this is all your fault?" Jack coldly asked "Why can't you see that for yourself? Maybe when I awaken the warrior, you'll see the errors of you ways...Until then, I'm going to watch Lilith as she charges the last bit's of the Vault Key...I expect to see you here real soon..."

The TV was shut off, leaving Axton to press onwards to the Vault. He continued through the cave until he came across an opening that revealed the center of the mountain, where he could see Lilith as she was charging the Vault key with her Siren powers. Axton found the nearest elevator and raced down to the door and pressed the descend button so he could get to the center. soon after, the elevator doors slid open, allowing Axton to make it to the center of the Vault. He hopped down the ledge the led to the Vault keys location. There he saw Lilith with glowing angelic wings on both of her shoulders as she was charging the key.

"Lilith!" Axton yelled as he ran up to the Siren who was charging it with Eridium.

"Glad you could make it..." A voice said from the other side of Lilith, the figure walked from the side of the key to reveal jack was standing by her. Axton's face turned grim as well as angry when he caught a glimpse of Jack.

"Jack..." Axton mumbled looking at his brother.

"Glad you remember my name as well..." Jack replied "Well, Lilith is close to charging the Vault key with her powers...Gives me time to deal with you in a matter I see fit.."

"What are you going to do now Jack?" Axton retorted "You can't hide behind Angel anymore..."

"Angel is DEAD because of you!" Jack interjected "It was all part of the plan anyways..."

"...Plan?" Axton asked cocking an eyebrow

"You didn't think I would know Lilith would resist the chance to try and help out you guys? I knew she was coming all along! Angel wasn't able to charge the key by herself, even with all the Eridium I pumped into her..." Jack explained

"Wait...So you knew that Angel wasn't strong enough to power the key by herself? The why did you keep her in there?! Unless..." Axton then said looking down at the ground letting the gears in his head go 'click, click, click' until he came out with an answer he didn't want.

"You kept her in that cage so that she could die at the proper moment..." Axton said looking at his brother once again in realization.

"You've been raising her like a pig for slaughter?!" Axton then yelled at his brother.

"YOU MONSTER!" Lilith yelled joining in at the conversation.

"Alright! That's it!" Jack said holding up his hands "You shut the hell up!" He said pointing to Lilith "And You are gonna get the whooping of your lifetime!" He then said taking off his coat, the cracking his neck. Axton took aim with his assault rifle at Jack's face, prompting him to hold up his hands.

"Hey come on!" Jack pleaded "I'm unarmed...Make things more interesting...fisticuffs?" He then asked.

Axton took one look at his rifle, after tossing it to the ground, he cracked his knuckles and faced Jack.

"I've waited a long time for this Jack..." Axton muttered putting his fists up.

"So have I..." Jack chuckled putting his fists up.

Axton let out a roar as he tried to tackle Jack to the ground by using his weight, trying to bring Jack to the ground. Jack proceeded to kick Axton in the chest using his knees, then grabbed Axton's waist and threw him against a rock with inhuman strength and speed.

"You're out of your league, Axton..." Jack smirked walking over to his brother that was clutching his chest while coughing, "I have the powers of Lilith on my side...what do you have hm? The memories of you defunct, rotting family? I'm sure they'll make good worm food back at Hieronymus..."

After hearing that statement, Axton snapped. He let out a roar and tried to make hooks and jabs at his brother, only to have them avoided and countered with an even more deadly punch and jab. Axton was catching jabs to the diaphragm and solar plexus as he coughed out blood from Jack's punches.

_'Jesus...'_ Axton thought_ 'Feels like a fucking car hit me..'_

"You're gonna have to do a lot better than that!" Jack mocked Axton giving him a solid kick to his chest, cracking his TITAN armor.

"Lot of good that armor did ya!" He mocked once more flipping Axton on his side, then ripping off his chest piece with his brute strength, followed a couple of punches to his jaw. All Axton could do was just take the punches being dealt out to him. It seemed as if Jack was granted inhuman powers due to the overexposure of all the Eridium and Siren power. Lilith looked in horror as the commando that tried to free her from this prison, was being mercilessly beaten by Handsome Jack. Jack continued to beat on Axton's face, then eventually slamming his head against the rock.

"So..." Jack said backing away from the commando "Was it worth it?"

"Let's find out!" Kurt yelled charging at Jack, throwing a punch at his face, only to have be dodged and getting a solid knock in the jaw.

"So..." Jack said looking at Kurt wiping his mouth from the blood dripping from it "You wanna have a go? Fine with me!"

"Kurt NO!" Axton tried to intervene, but it was too late.

Kurt tried to make a swipe at Jack's head, prompting Jack to duck and uppercut Kurt in the chest, causing Kurt to gag slightly. Jack then took his elbow and smashed Kurt's back with brute force and strength, causing Kurt to fall to the ground with a heavy thud. Kurt tried to get up, but was kicked in the stomach by Jack and crashed to the ground again, letting out a cough, followed with blood spewing from his mouth. He felt a ribcage crack inside of himself after that last kick Jack dealt.

"I can see you'll lead your family with honor..." Jack mocked Kurt on the ground, "But not anymore..." Jack said as he slowly grabbed Kurt's neck with his right hand, then using his left to grab his lower back. Jack then hoisted Kurt up and over himself. Axton couldn't believe it that Jack was actually strong enough to not only pick up Kurt, but hoist him over his head.

"The Thatcher line...is broken.." Jack muttered coldly pulling Kurt down so that Kurt's back would make a solid connection with Jack's knee.

_**KRAKT!**_

That was what Kurt heard as he felt his own spine break under Jack's knee. He snapped out of all of his senses as he screamed in complete agony and pain he was put through. Jack let go of Kurt as he let him tumble to the ground off his knee. Jack let out a chuckle, then purposely stepped on Kurt's back, causing more pain to the young scientist. Jack then grabbed Kurt's hair and yanked his face up to look upon Axton's beaten self.

"Tell me Axton..." Jack began "Does THIS look like the face of a CEO?"

Jack stared at Axton for a few seconds, then let off a smirk and smashed Kurt's face to the ground once more.

"Didn't think so..." He then said "After I'm through with you, I guess I'll capture that other Siren fumbling around trying to find some dumb heritage of hers. I could use her for some experiments..."

"You...Will...Not...Touch her..." Axton coldly growled slowly standing up.

"Ooooh sooo scary...I'm shitting my pants right now.." Jack mocked holding his hands up in feign fear.

_'Axton...'_ Angel said inside of his head,

_'Angel?'_ Axton replied to the girl.

_'Listen...My father is an evil man...you have to stop him...for you...for Maya...'_ Angel explained to Axton.

_'How?'_ Axton retorted_ 'He's practically invincible!'_

_'Not exactly...'_ Angel said _'You can do it Axton! I know you can!_'

_'I can't even move my arm ...and Kurt's spine is fractured...what could I possibly do?'_ Axton pleaded inside of his head.

Angel let off a small laugh and replied_ 'Leave that to me...Let the power of the Seraph's fuel your rage Axton...'_

"Who could you possibly call on to help you in this situation hm?" Jack asked mockingly at his younger brother, which caused Axton to smirk.

'You're Daughter.." Axton replied as his arms began to glow a peculiar blue that resembled a Siren. His eye color changed from the greenish blue, to a pearl-white color. Angel's life energy was being poured into Axton's body. He could feel himself get stronger by the second.

"What the fuck?!" Jack exclaimed looking at his brothers markings "How the?"

"Thank Angel for that..." Axton said as he charged at his brother.

With every punch Axton dealt to his brother, a beam of light would pulse out, along with a loud electrical charge noise. For once, it seemed as if Axton was actually doing damage to the Hyperion owner. He could see Jack's face flail left and right with each punch and hook Axton dealt. He felt an unearthly power course through him as he was going to town on Jack's face. Axton nicked one of the connectors that held together Jack's face, releasing a ample amount of steam, causing Jack to shout in pain. As he frantically tried to place the connector back in it's rightful place, Axton kept on punching him straight in the face. The feeling of revenge felt so good to Axton now. He kept up with the flurry of punches until he gave Axton a solid kick to his diaphragm, sending him flying into the center of the vault. Axton was victorious. But his victory could only be tasted for momentarily.

"NO! The Vault Keys Charged!" Lilith yelled as the pieces came together to form the key that was once used to free the Destroyer, now it would be used to awaken the Warrior.

"You're too late Axton!" Jack laughed "The key's charged and ready to crush you!"

Jack helped push the key into the slot as he was covered in an energy shield that protected him from Axton's grasp. Lilith collapsed to the ground, completely exhausted from the work she was put through by Jack.

"I can now control the greatest warrior that has ever scorched the face of this hell hole! WARRIOR! COME TO ME!" Jack yelled through the shield.

"Axton!" Maya yelled running into the center to meet up with the commando "What the hell happened to you?!" She yelled pointing to his arms, causing Axton to look at both of them.

"Thank Angel for that..." Axton replied to Maya seeing all the other hunters arrive to the scene, along with Gaige, who gasped at the sight of Kurt's beaten body.

"KURT!" She yelled as she ran up to him.

"WARRIOR!" Jack yelled as though the storm an extremely large figure could be seen through the fog and smoke.

The Warrior. The thing that was told from legends, as the defiler, the slayer of mankind, was now upon the vault hunters, willing to off with them all. He was a monster...His entire body body was composed of molten rock and lava, along with a slag tipped tail, standing on four legs like a dog that arrived straight from hell itself. Come to think of it, this thing must've been fresh from hell it seemed.

"Ay dios Mio..." Salvador muttered quietly while gawking at the beast that was approaching them slowly.

"Warrior..." Jack growled "Kill..."

The Warrior let out a typhoon of fire at the hunters as they all took cover behind the rocks and such. They could be cooked alive if they aren't careful enough. The warrior perched over some of the rock, letting out another roar, but letting out a scream as soon as a explosion hit it square in the chest. Kurt was lying the ground, holding a railgun in his arms, trying to inflict any sort of damage he could do on the beast. In this case, it made him only angrier, as the Warrior swooped his tail to try and smash Kurt, he could only lie there and await his fate. Luckily, fate had different plans for him, as he saw DeathTrap was holding the monster's tail with all of it's might, protecting Kurt from the blow of the Warrior. DeathTrap plunged it's blade into the Warriors tail, causing it to shriek loudly of the pain and bring it's tail back up.

"I owe you BIG time Gaige.." Kurt coughed out looking at the Mechromancer.

Axton continuously fired his gun at the Monster's chest, due to that being the only weak stop of the Warrior itself.

"Protect your chest, Warrior! Goddamnit!" Jack yelled through the shield.

"His chest his open!" Kurt exclaimed whilst lying down on the ground, "Hit him with everything!"

With the combined efforts of all the Vault hunters, The Warrior began to slowly dwindle as the bullets were flying up in his chest. A constant barrage of bullets kept on penetrating the warrior as he began to lose his power until he was finally on the rocks, trying it's best to stay alive from all the pain and hurt it was given.

"NOOO!" Jack screamed as his ticket to cleansing Pandora was now dying on a rock.

Kurt saw the control panel that controls the orbital shots from the Hyperion Base. on the side of the Vault key. He slowly took his robotic hand and pulled his way towards the controls, being careful not to shift his body so suddenly so he wouldn't be paralyzed. He took his hand and typed in the coordinates for the Warrior's location, he took a huge breath, then pushed the button to release the moon shots.

"Gotcha now you sonuvabtch..." Kurt coughed out, slumping down on the ground next to the console.

"Coordinates received, firing for effect.." The machine said as a few blasts could be seen from the Hyperion moon base as a giant missile impacted on the incapacitated Warrior, finishing it off for good. The hunters have done something unspeakable, and Eridian Demigod fell from the might of a group of mercenaries.

The shield that protected Jack and Lilith from outer harm finally disintegrated. Leaving Jack completely Vulnerable. Axton looked down at his arms to see that the glowing markings began to slowly fade away, he then heard a voice say in his head.

_'I think you can take care of the rest...'_ Angel said to Axton in his head _'Now go...I'll be watching..."_

Jack tumbled out of the Keys path and leaned up against a rock, coughing out some blood. He slowly shifted his gaze on to his little brother, who was staring him dead in the eyes.

"Who...Do you think...You are..Axton..." Jack growled clutching his arm "I should have kept you where you belonged...nothing more than a mindless foot soldier just doing his job!"

Axton slowly made his way to Jack, while pulling out the jack knife that was given to him by Mordecai.

"I can't die like this..." Jack growled once more "Not when I'm so close...and not.. at the hands...OF A FILTHY BANDIT!" He screamed stumbling a bit. "Why couldn't you see Axton? Why can't you understand that I could have restored peace...Order...You could have ruled by my side...Crush all that stood before us...You're no hero...YOU'RE NOTHING! I'M THE HERO!...Why...Why...Why Must I die...At the hands...OF A CHILD KILLING PSYCHOPATH!" He screamed only getting cut off by the knife that was plunged into his chest, leaving in shock and coughing more blood. Axton pulled the knife out of his chest and plunged it into his stomach once again, and then again. Axton kept the blade inside Jack's chest as he leaned up to Jack's face and said sternly,

"Not as a psychopath John...As a Brother..." He replied coldly pulling the knife out of Jack's chest, letting him stumble around a bit, blankly staring at all the surroundings in front of him before collapsing on the ground facing upwards, he let out one more breath allowing the cold touch of death caress him whole.

Axton knelt down by the deceased body of his own brother. He couldn't believe that he actually killed his own brother. He knew that he had to do it, he had to...for Pandora. He wanted to feel a victory for the thing he's done, but it seemed that no victory would truly come to him, only thoughts and memories that would remain in his being. But then...He felt a warm feeling after that moment...The feeling of freedom, peace of mind, things that he hasn't been able to grasp for a very long time. Maya walked up to Axton and knelt down beside him then hugged him from the side tightly. Axton respnded by putting a hand over hers, rubbing it slightly.

"It's Okay Axton...It's over.." Maya said calmly to her love.

"I know..." Axton replied gloomily,

"It is finished/ Handsome Jack is no longer/ Were victorious.." Zero piped in putting the blade on his shoulders.

"That sunnovabitch is finally toast..." Salvador said crossing his arms.

Axton leaned over to the mask that was covering up John's real face. Just this one last time, he wanted to see his true face. He unclasped the locks that held his mask in place and slowly pulled it off, causing a slight gasp between the group. The hunters could see now why Axton and Jack were brothers, they looked exactly the same, aside from the hideous scar that ran across Jack's face that was the shape of a backwards 'V'.

"John..." Axton whispered looking at his brother while holding the mask in his hands.

Kurt let out a cough from the console, signifying he was still alive and metaphorically kicking.

"Kurt!" Gaige yelled as she ran up to the limp scientist once more, touching his shoulder.

"Hi..." Kurt stammered looking at the young girl.

"Hey...can you move?" Gaige asked looking at his legs.

"Nope...He broke my back..." Kurt said "I'll need to fix it back at Sanctuary, we need to worry about the key..."

"The Key!" Axton said looking around to see Lilith was leaning over it, looking at it peculiarly. Axton made his way towards the key, only to be stopped by Lilith's hand.

"Whoa there Killer.." Lilith said "You don't wanna touch this thing now...trust me..I'll be damned if I ever see this thing again it'll be too soo-"

"Lilith!" a familiar Hispanic voice said in the background as the hunters turned to see Mordecai and Brick stumbling over to the Vault Key centre.

"Mordecai!" Lilith exclaimed walking up to her friend, embracing him tightly "Where the hell have you been?! If it wasn't for Axton, we'd all be dead!"

"Bad traffic...sorry.." Brick explained jokingly rubbing his head.

Lilith walked up to the Vault key that was barely pulsing with any sort of energy left inside of it. She put her hand over the key, allowing her hands to glow a light blue color, similar to Maya's and momentarily, Axton's.

"Been real fun you alien piece of sh-" She was about to say at the Key let of a blast of energy as it floated in the air, as a hologram flickered on. It was a projection of the Solar System that they were currently in. Neighboring planets began to show the Vault Symbols on specific part of the map.

"Whoa.." Brick mumbled "Are those...Vaults?"

Mordecai let out a loud chuckle and added in with "Heheh, you know what that means..."

"Yup.." Lilith said putting her hands on her hips "No rest for the Wicked..."

"Goddamnit..." Axton mumbled while smirking at the Map with Maya beside him.

_There Ain't no rest for the Wicked...Until we close our eyes for good..._

* * *

**AAAAAAAANNNNNNDDDDDD That's a wrap!**

**I can't even begin to thanks all of my readers and fans of the story who have supported me, gave me advice, as well as letting me get slammed into my own keyboard! Each and every one of you deserves a pat on the back for just taking the time to look at the story that I put effort into! To the people who was written me awesome feedback as well as many other things! THANK YOU SO MUCH! It's you guys who helped shape the story like it is now! Take pride in the fact that each and every one of you helped a fanfiction that was made out of sheer boredom evolve into such a thing like this! **

**Stay tuned for the Epilogue of the story! Where they PARTY HARD!...Among other things.. *wink wink*  
**

**-LT  
**


	25. Epilogue: How You Like Me Now?

**AN: Well hello all you smexy people!**

**Before I start this final final chapter, I'm going to do some comment replies on my chapters.  
**

**CJ T-Bone: Ohhhhhh nooooooo, Borderlands 3...  
**

**PurpleNinjaCat278: Yes master...**

**Guest: Uhhhhhhh Yayyy?  
**

**Strita7: High fives!  
**

**Drake Williams: You should change your name to Sir Buzz Killington Esq.  
**

**GJ115: It all depends if you vote!  
**

**Isaac Clarke AKA Reven: Sorry this took so long to make! Hope it's worth it!  
**

**Well now that I got hose out of the way, I'd like to say sorry for the long wait! My personal life among other things has put progress at a screeching halt *cough Getting Drunk *cough*. But now that I got this final chapter up, I hope y'all will dig it...ENYOJ OLO!  
**

* * *

Epilogue: How You Like Me Now?

A Thunderous roar of applause and joy greeted the Vault Hunters as soon as they arrived back at their home base of Sanctuary. They all saw from the ECHO recordings inside of the HUDs of the Hunters, and they all saw Axton finish off Handsome Jack with a knife given by the fallen leader of the Raiders. Axton had the time to wipe off the blood and sweat from his face so he could look somewhat presentable among the other citizens. Handsome Jack is dead, and the people of Pandora are safe from the clutches of Hyperion. The Crimson raiders have won. Mordecai joined in on the cheer as he lifted up his arms and let out a "Whoo!" noise celebrating the victory. Birck couldn't join in with his friend because he was carrying Kurt, making sure not to move him much because of his spinal fracture that occurred when Jack dropped him on his knee. Axton looked around the crowd that were shouting his name as if it were a chant almost. Is this what being a hero felt like? Felt damn good in his opinion. Lilith looked around the cheering crowds that surrounded them as they arrived back in Sanctuary. It felt great to be back at home, it's just that...Roland wasn't there to join them in the applause.

"Hey big guy.." Kurt said clutching his chest "You think you can drop me off at Zed's?"

"Sure thing little man..." Brick replied carrying the injured scientist over to the clinic to fix up his back. Axton followed Brick to the clinic along with Gaige. She wanted to make sure that Kurt was going to be alright and well.

* * *

An hour passed as Zed made the last adjustments to the Spinal prosthetic installed on Kurt's back. He ironed out the kinks to the machine and stitched up the skin that was protruding from the sides of his back. Zed took a pair of safety scissors he found in a junkyard to snip the excess stitching from his back.

"Well how is he?" Gaige asked eager to know the disposition of her boyfriend.

"Welp," Zed began "He had two spinal fractures right here," He explained pointing to the middle of his back, which now had a robotic brace bolted to it, "Lucky enough, his spine took most of the impact, so his spinal cord received no damage, as well as his other nerves, this feller right here is lucky he ain't a vegetable.."

"Luck tends to follow him around like a homeless puppy." Axton mused while letting out a chuckle.

"I was able to mend the metatarsals in his back so he could be able to walk with the prosthetic i gave him." Zed explained poking the prosthetic on Kurt's back.

"Metatarsals?" Kurt asked turning his head towards the (Not actual) Doctor.

"Well, yeah.." Zed replied looking at him weird "These little guys right here" he the said pointing to the prosthetics. Kurt scrunched his eyes and looked at Zed with a dumbfounded expression.

"Metatarsals are the toe bones!" Kurt explained sitting up from the table that he was laying face down on.

"Really?" Zed asked in disbelief while scratching his head

"Yeah!" Kurt exclaimed "Aren't you a doctor?!"

"Well...technically...no." Zed admitted looking down.

"So...let me get this straight..." Kurt began holding his hands to his temples "I had a guy operate on the most sensitive part of my body, the spine, who turns out isn't actually a doctor?"

"Well it makes you feel better," Zed replied "I HAD a PhD, but it was taken when I tried to rip out a person's Medulla Oblongata..."

"Why would you do that?" Kurt asked dumbfounded while looking at Zed.

"He had it coming!" Zed said defensively

"Whatever..." Kurt muttered while twisting his robotic hand around, twiddling the fingers, making sure Zed didn't damage any nerves in his system.

"Here...You might want this wheelchair.." Zed offered pushing a beaten-up wheelchair with the front-right wheel missing.

"Nah fuck that.." Kurt said standing up from the table, causing a cracking noise to be heard from his spine, which cued the other Vault hunters to cringe at the noise, including Kurt. He took his hand and placed it on his back like an old man would, then forcefully pushed his spine back into place. He let out a grimace from the pain, but returned back to normal once his posture was fixed up. He rolled his shoulders around and turned his attention towards the commando.

"Well..." Kurt began putting his hand on Axton's shoulder, "You did it man...just like you always do..."

"The fuck you talkin' about 'Me'?" Axton replied cocking an eyebrow "We ALL did it...I mean, shit...I couldn't have done it without you guys," he explained looking at his friends.

"Very humble of you Axton..." Kurt said walking over to Gaige "I think it's high time we celebrated our fuckin' victory!"

"Yeah!" Gaige exclaimed holding up her arm "I am going to get SO wasted tonight!"

"Gaige you can't drink!" Kurt said being the buzzkill.

"Yeah Gaige..." Axton piped in "You have to be 21 to drink here..."

"Oh..." Gaige mumbled looking down at the ground. Axton and Kurt exchanged glances before hysterically laughing after they fooled Gaige.

"HAHAHAH! You should've seen the look on your face!" Kurt laughed pointing to the mechromancer

"Yeah seriously! Of course you can drink here!" Axton said while laughing as well, which caused Gaige to brighten up her expression and smile at this.

"You guys are assholes!" She replied shoving Kurt around. Maya couldn't help but giggle at the practical joke the boys played on the girl.

"Alright! It's settled then!" Mordecai yelled holding up a bottle of whiskey "Let us drink till our asses are drunk!"

"Wait wait wait..." Kurt said holding up his hands "All in favor of getting high as fuck before drinking raise thou hand!"

Unanimously, all of the Vault Hunters (Even Lilith) had their hands up in agreement with Kurts statement. Kurt looked around the room, pleased to see that everybody was thinking the same thing as Kurt was.

"Glad to see were in agreement..." Kurt mused letting off a smirk.

"Alright...let's indulge ourselves with some well-earned benefits..." Axton said walking out of the room with Maya in his arms. He was followed by the rest of the hunters who all made their way back to the base to smoke upon some 'proper good collie'.

* * *

"Wait..." Axton said holding up his hand to the rest of the hunters, causing them to shift their attention towards the Commando.

"What up?" Kurt asked limping a bit in the process,

"I...gotta do something real fast..." Axton said racing upstairs. Maya looked at Axton in such a rush, then proceed to chase after him.

Axton reached into his bag and pulled out Handsome Jack's mask. He held it in both of his hands, staring at the mask that belonged to his late brother. He rotated the mask around to view the several cracks, as well blood splatters on it. His face turned immediately grim once more when looking at the connection points that were shattered due to Axton's brute strength. He then put the mask up on his shelf, which had the Giraffe and the other memoirs of his past. He then let out another sigh as he reached at his neck and pulled off the necklace that contained the two wedding rings. He held it in front of his face as the diamonds glistened in the light when it was exposed to it. He slowly placed those two mementos on the shelf along with the others. Axton may be free from the grips of his older sibling, but he mustn't forget what he's lost. He has finally found forgiveness in his life, something he wasn't able to do for a very long time..

"Axton..." A voice said softly behind him, causing him to shift his attention to the woman standing behind him.

"Yeah Maya?" Axton replied looking at the siren with a glum face.

"Are you okay..?" She asked walking up to him.

"Yeah...I'm fine...It's just.." Axton began looking down at the ground.

"I know..." Maya interrupted walking closer to him "I'm so sorry you had to do that..."

"Maya..." Axton replied taking his turn for interrupting the other, "I had to do it...He deserved to die.."

Maya walked up to Axton and slowly put him in an embrace and squeezed his back tighter and tighter, while nestling her head in his neck. Axton responded with gently wrapping his arms around her waist and hung his head downwards on her shoulders. Maya was glad that the revenge situation didn't get to Axton and consume his mind with rage. She could understand why Axton was saddened by Jack's death. No matter how a person could look at the situation, Axton still killed his own flesh and blood. Handsome Jack deserved to die...but...

"It's over..." Axton muttered quietly "Jack's dead..."

"You didn't deserve any of this..." Maya replied pulling away from the Commando

"It's alright...I guess I'll have to put it all behind me.." Axton explained looking down, he let out a scoff then shifted his attention back to the Siren.

"Look at me...wallowing in the past when we should be celebrating!" He said "C'mon...I plan to get properly fucked up tonight if nobody disagrees.."

"Nope.." Maya smirked following him back downstairs.

"So...Who are these two?" Lilith asked looking at the two people with robotic arms.

"Oh..This is Gaige" Maya said pointing to the mechromancer "And this is Kurt" She then said pointing to him.

"So you're Lilith right?" Kurt asked walking up to her.

"Yup...The 'damsel in distress'" Lilith said using her fingers as quotation marks,

"Don't look the part." Kurt mused holding out his hand, which Lilith grabbed and shook,

"So this is...ummm...she's...uhhh," Kurt said looking at Gaige,

"I'm his girlfriend," Gaige interrupted Kurt, causing him to facepalm himself and shake his head.

"Yeah..." Kurt said looking up, looking a Lilith giggle at the two of them,

"Okay! Less talking, more bongies!" Mordecai said pulling out a bag from his back pocket.

It was a symphony of coughs as they took their respectable tokes through the giant glass apparatus provided by the Doctor. Pretty soon the coughs turned into laugher as the vault hunters caught glimpses of peoples faces as they coughed vigorously.

"Shit man..." Kurt mumbled while swaying his head slightly "This's some guuuud shiet."

Kurt's character completely changed from a usually serious, humble man, to your stereotypical California stoner buddy. The kind of guy who would borrow your shampoo, and be nice enough to put it back in its rightful spot, the refrigerator. A man with good intentions, just not executing them properly.

"Whoa..." Axton said stumbling around a bit, "Whoaaaa..."

"So uhhhh, whass goin on..." Gaige mumbled leaning on Kurt's shoulder,

"We's high's whass goin on..." Maya smirked stumbling on Axton, with the stupidest grin smeared on her face. Axton was quite stoned at the same time, as he tilted his head and swayed in a rhythmic motion, following the music that was playing in his head.

"Oooohhhhh boy..." Salvador slurred feeling slightly woozy,

"Ooookayy.." Axton added "Less head to Moxxi's for a couple of drinks...Or maybe more..."

"Kay..." Maya grinned with her eyes closed.

"I'll catch up with you guys.." Lilith piped in "I just gotta...do something," She explained walking up the steps, leaving the others to go to Moxxi's, except for Mordecai. He looked at the steps as Lilith slowly made her way up them. He felt a shove on his back as Axton pushed him towards the steps, much to his disliking.

"What the hell!" Mordecai whispered, making sure Lilith wouldn't hear him,

"Talk to her..." Axton whispered pointing to the ceiling, then turning around to walk to Moxxi's.

Mordecai looked at the door that Axton just exited from, to get drunk at Moxxi's bar. As much as he disliked Miss Moxxi for the right reasons, he wanted nothing more than a drink. He still couldn't believe that she dumped him for Handsome Jack, the man who imprisoned Pandora and spread his dictation across the planet. Mordecai then spun around and looked at the stairs that led to the upper part of the HQ. Mordecai knew exactly why Lilith was up there. She remembered what was lost during the battle for Pandora, their Leader, Roland. He slowly made his way up the steps to check on his friend. Mordecai found Lilith sitting on one of the chairs next to the computer, holding Roland's beret. She was just staring at the insignia that was on the hat. She was tearing up at the sight of the beret that was in her hands. If he was still alive, they would be together for sure.

"Hey.." Mordecai said, causing Lilith to snap her head towards the Sniper who caught her attention. She quickly wiped the tears from her face and gave a fake smile.

"Y-Yeah?" She stuttered fixing her hair a bit.

"Just came here to see what's up." Mordecai said walking up to her, pulling up a chair and sitting across from her.

"Oh...okay.." Lilith said letting out a sigh, while twiddling her fingers.

"Nice Night huh?" Mordecai said, trying to start an idle conversation, only to get a simple reply,

"Yeah..."

Mordecai and Lilith both looked their different ways, not looking at each other, nor talking to each other. Until Mordecai finally spoke up while shifting his attention back to the Siren.

"Lil', I'm not going to act like I have no clue what you're going through..." He stated looking at her Hazel eyes, "It's okay to be sad..I miss him too..."

"DON'T" Lilith snapped glaring at Mordecai's polarized goggles.

"Lilith, it's alright...We killed him...It's over.." Mordecai explained hunching closer to her. "Roland's been avenged.."

"...Then explain to me something..." Lilith began lifting up her head to Mordecai's level "Why was I the only one who lost anyone...? Riddle me fucking that!" She yelled tearing up..

"Lilith.." Mordecai tried to say, only to be cut off again.

"Goddamnit Mordecai will you open your fucking eyes and realize that Roland's dead?!" She yelled with some tears coming from her face.

"That wasn't your fault..." Mordecai said trying to calm his friend down.

"I should have never gone to the facility...I should have fucking listened..." Lilith said hanging her head down, covering her face with her hand. Mordecai let out a sigh and put his hand on her shoulder.

"It's okay Lilith...That wasn't your fault." Mordecai said again comforting her,

"Just." Lilith sniffled with more tears coming from her eyes "You have no idea what being alone is like. A Siren. A Freak. Being a fucking outcast. And the ONE FUCKING Thing!" She gritted, holding out her index finger with tears coming from her eyes "That happens good in my life leaves me! Because of a FUCKING COWARD!"

"Lilith!" Mordecai snapped "I DO know what it's FUCKING LIKE!" He yelled, panting in frustration glaring at his shocked friend. Mordecai couldn't remember the last time he was this mad at Lilith. He and Lilith usually got along very well, hell, they ALL did.

"I know..." He whispered calming down.

"...How?" She asked quietly,

Mordecai let out a sigh and looked back at the siren.

"Lilith, remember when I told you and Roland about when I was 'Demonios Mano'?" He asked,

"Yeah, fastest hands on Pandora...why?" She said looking at him,

"Well, before that...I...Was a Slave.." He admitted looking down a bit.

"W-what?" She whimpered looking him in disbelief,

"I was a child laborer, I was a prisoner, forced to do work for my whole life. My father would always get whipped, beaten, cut up, and burned. My mother...would always get raped...whipped, and bludgeoned. While I could only stand there and fucking watch.." He said gritting his teeth "Then one day... They decided my mother was no use to them anymore...they killed her, slit her throat on a post like a fucking pig..."

* * *

(AN: The Italics are the flashback, and the normal font is Mordecai narrating it he flashback.)

_"NOOOO! MADRE!" The young Mordecai screamed looking at the sight of his dead mother, tied up to a post, with her throat slit._

_"NOOOO!" Mordecai's father yelled looking at his wife getting gut. He kept on yelling that, until the slaved owner who killed his wife walked up to him. He pistol whipped his father across the face so he would stop yelling._

_"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" The slave owner screamed at his father with a Hispanic accent pointing a gun him "SHUT THE FUCK UP!" He stared at his father while holding the gun, he spoke again "I will kill you! And then I will drag you out of FUCKING HELL! And kill you again!" _

_The slave owner turned his attention towards the child that was looking at him. _

_"Take the child and his father, put them both in a cage...I will deal with them later.." He said signaling two of his pirate workers to apprehend the boy and his father._

_"Now rot in that fucking cell.." The slave owner said coldly to the father to"Tomorrow we will slit your throat on the same post like your wife...your child will suffer the same fate...in due time.." He said walking away from the cell, woven from bamboo, primitive, yet strong as stone. _

_Mordecai and his father were tied up and gagged with a cloth, hanging on the cages like slabs of meat hanging on hooks in a factory. Mordecai looked at his father as he fidgeted with the bindings that held him up from the cage. Finally, he broke himself free from the cuffs that held him on the cage. He took off the rag that was tied over his face too._

_"Hijo de puta..." He muttered while rubbing his wrists. He crawled over to his son and untied him from the post._

_"Are you alright?" He asked while untying his son from the cage._

_"I think so papa.." Mordecai replied taking off the rag on his mouth, rubbing his wrists._

_"We have to escape..." His father said putting his hand on his sons shoulder "They cannot harm you like they did with your madre...you deserve better..." _

_"How?" Mordecai asked looking at his dad,_

_"Follow me...stay close Mordecai." He replied sneaking over to the gate of the cage, untying the the binding that held the door together. He slowly opened the door, checking his surroundings. He looked to his left, and looked to his right._

_"It's clear, let's go.." He whispered motioning to Mordecai to follow._

"My father was hellbent on trying to get me out of the compound. He thought I deserved better. I don't know if he was right or not..."

_"Stay close..." He whispered sneaking around the compound. They came across a few guards and dogs who were sniffing out the area. Thankfully, they managed to sneak past the guards that were inspecting for runaways. _

_"Grab that map..." His father said pointing to the paper on the table that showed the general area of the jungle setting they were in. They were coming out of the compound, sitting down near a tree stump just outside of the prison._

_"Papa.." Mordecai began "Where are we gonna go?"_

_"Away from here..." He answered "Any place is better than rotting in this prison... I promised your mama I would get you out of this prison...you are a gifted niño Mordecai...you deserve more than-"_

_**BANG**_

_"PAPA!" Mordecai screamed as he saw his father collapse on the ground with a bullet to his neck. He put his hands on the bullet wound, to try and stop the flow of blood coming from his neck. His father struggled to try an make out a word, but was gurgling on the blood coming from his mouth. _

_"You little sneaky bastards!" The slave owner mused putting the gun into his holster. _

_"PAPA! PLEASE!" Mordecai yelled trying to stop the bleeding._

_"M-Mordecai..." His father coughed looking at his son, gagging out some blood._

_"R-Run..." He muttered rolling his eyes into the back of his head, falling on to the ground, leaving Mordecai to deal with the slave owner._

_"You heard him niño, run! Tell ya what, since I'm such a sport, I'll give ya a head start. 10 Seconds." He explained pointing his pistol into the jungle. Mordecai looked into the jungle, then looked back at the slave owner._

_"What, You fuckin deaf?! GO! RUN KID!" The slave owner yelled firing a shot in the air, prompting Mordecai to scramble up and sprint into the jungle._

_Mordecai ran as fast as he could, trying to escape the compound and the grasp of the slave owner. He heard barks and gunshots from the behind him as he fled into the forest. He felt a sharp pain in his shoulder as a bullet lodged itself into it, causing Mordecai to collapse momentarily on the floor, but then getting back up to continue running. He had to keep on moving, no matter what. He felt a second pain, this time a bullet grazed his head, leaving a large gash on the right side of his face. He clenched his head as he continued to run into the dense jungle. _

_Finally, the firing ceased, the dogs stopped barking, and Mordecai could see the flashlights used by the pirates turn around and presumably walked back to the compound. Mordecai collapsed next to a tree, curling up in a ball, sobbing to himself in the pouring rain._

"I was cold...scared...alone..."

_Mordecai just cried to himself in the pouring rain, thinking about what he's going to do for the rest of his life. He was a fugitive. A slave. What could a slave possibly amount for something? He felt like a worthless piece of garbage. He thought he was better off dead._

"But then...I saw her."

_Mordecai heard a slight screech come from beside him. He looked up to_ see a vulture-like bird was perched on a branch directly above him_. Mordecai's initial reaction was terror, as he stumbled around on the ground to try and escape the sight of the bird. The creature glided down from the tree and landed next to Mordecai. It slowly made its way to the boy who was crawling slowly away. Mordecai stopped crawling and leaned against a tree. This is where he would die thinking to himself as the bird met Mordecai's gaze with its own blood red eyes. The bird stared at Mordecai for a minute, the walked over to the right side of the boy. It looked at the bullet hole that was inside of his shoulder. The bird lodged its beak into the wound and grabbed the bullet inside of the boy. It slowly pulled out the bullet, causing Mordecai to yelp in pain. Mordecai turned his attention to the bird who had a bullet inside of his beak, and blood covering his feathers, due to the removal it performed on him. Mordecai was hesitant at first, but slowly moved his hand towards the bird. The bird responded by nestling its had inside of his hand, rubbing its face around his palm, letting off a slight squeal of happiness. _

_For the first time in his entire life, Mordecai actually felt happy. A child that was born into slavery had little taste of what happiness was. Sorrow, pain, and loneliness were all that accompanied a person when they would pick at the rocks, scoop the dirt, or be a persons sex toy. Mordecai felt like the bird was a sign..that everything was going to turn out alright for him. He felt like he could make something out of himself. This bird was willing to help him, be his companion, the only thing he could ever trust. He would make it._

* * *

"Bloodwing..." Lilith whimpered after hearing the story about how he met his companion.

"Yeah..." Mordecai mumbled. He stood up and opened up a drawer and pulled out a poster, then handed it to Lilith. She looked at the poster that said:

**WANTED**

"**The one who got away"**

**Fugitive**

**Runaway**

**Reward: $5000**

The picture showed a little boy, about the age of 9 or 11, wearing a cut up shirt, with a worn down pair of jeans to match that. His face had a mixture of sadness and hurt along with the cuts and bruises on him. The picture was of Mordecai, when he was a boy.

"Mordecai...I..." Lilith tried to say, only to get interrupted.

"It's alright Lil'..." He said "I know what it's like to be alone..I know you're scared...hurt...and feel neglected...I've been there before..."

Mordecai slowly took off the bandages that were wrapped on his head, rolling it around into a ball to reveal himself. His hair was tied up in somewhat of a dreadlock fashion, tied up in a ponytail-esque style. Lilith looked in horror at the hideous scar that ran from the right side of Mordecai's head, all the way down to his eyebrow.

"Oh my god..." She whispered looking at the scar.

"Lilith...I don't know if you realize it but...You and Brick...are all I have left.." Mordecai explained, putting his hand over his goggles, slowly taking them off. Lilith has never seen a more beautiful pair of eyes in her life. They made hers seem dull and pointless. His eyes had a cyan/turquoise mixture to them, which could honestly piece through Lilith's soul if she stared at them any longer, yet she couldn't help but stare at them. Lilith has never seen Mordecai's actual eyes in her entire life, and she's glad she got a chance to.

"Without you...I see no reason to live anymore..." he said looking at Lilith.

"But...What about Moxxi?" She asked prompting Mordecai to scoff,

"What about her?" He retorted "You think I still have feelings for the same woman who dumped me for the asshole who killed Roland as well as Kurt's father?"

"Wait..." Lilith said "Kurt's...dad?"

"Yeah..." Mordecai responded "He was shot in the back...and died in his son's arms.."

"Oh my God...I didn't..." Lilith said looking down, mentally kicking herself for acting so selfish and like a bitch.

"That wasn't the only person..." Mordecai said looking down a bit

"Who?" Lilith asked looking up.

"You know that stuffed giraffe Axton carried around?" Mordecai asked

"The same one on his shelf? Yeah..what about it?" Lilith replied, causing Mordecai to sigh.

"It belonged to someone very special to him..." He said

"Who was it..?" Lilith asked again, Mordecai shifted his attention back up to Lilith,

"His son." He said, causing Lilith to gasp and widen his eyes when he said that.

"I...I...don't..." She stuttered, but then collapsing on her knees, sniffling and covering her face. She had no idea that Handsome jack murdered Axton's own son, as well as Kurt's father. It made her seem like her tragedy was no tragedy at all.

"It's okay to be sad Lil'..." He said quietly rubbing her back

"Will...you leave?" Lilith asked looking up,

"Fuck no." Mordecai stated "I will never leave your side...You're not in this fight alone...We're with you Lilith.."

With that said, Lilith lunged into his arms, hugging him tightly, feeling Mordecai's arms wrap around her. She couldn't have asked for a better companion than the drunk sniper himself. Lilith has never met another person who truly knew what it was like to be all alone, until Mordecai came around. Roland wouldn't want her to wallow in the gutter for all of her life. She was glad Mordecai was there for her, couldn't have asked for anybody better.

"I'm...sorry if I was..." Lilith mumbled

"Nah..Don't worry about it, I understand," Mordecai replied pulling away from the embrace.

Lilith smiled at the sight of Mordecai's eyes once more,

"You have the most beautiful eyes, ya know that?" She said putting her hands on her hips

"Don't get used to um.." Mordecai smirked putting on his goggles,

"Yeah, or else I'll be put under some spell." She joked letting a small laugh.

"C'mon, let's go celebrate our victory!" Mordecai said to his friend

"Yeah..let's!" She replied following Mordecai down the steps and out the door.

* * *

"Hey! Ho! To the bottle I go.

To heal my heart and drown my woe.

Rain may fall and wind may blow,

But there still be many miles to go.

Sweet is the sound of the pouring rain,

And the stream that falls from hill to plain.

Better than rain or a hot fresh pie...

Is a mug of beer inside this guy!"

Kurt and Axton were singing on top of the table as they clanged their mugs and chugged the beer down vigorously, almost falling off the table. The room filled with laughter after that drinking song was finished up by the two. Marcus was laughing and applauding along with the rest of the people inside of Moxxi's bar as that song was finished up. Mordecai and Lilith walked in to join the rest of the party, and they were glad they did. The party was insane, and for good reason. Brick was stumbling over some tables, eventually knocking one down because he was so drunk. Tina was spinning around on one of the barstools to see how fast she could go. They even saw Salvador take a hit from a joint, then drink straight from the bottle of, then letting it all out in one big cloud.

"Two Rakk Ales, Moxxi!" Mordecai said taking a seat at the bar with Lilith by his side. Moxxi looked at them both with a stingy eye, then grabbed two beers and gave it to the both of them.

"Here. Enjoy." She stated then walking to a different place of the table, to serve another patron.

"To us!" Mordecai said holding up the bottle

"Yeah! To us!" She said clanging the glass then taking a swig with Mordecai.

"Whooooooo!" Gaige yelled stumbling over Kurt "I'm quite drink..."

"Yes you are.." Kurt said, equally as tipsy as her.

"Hooooo..." Gaige said grabbing on the Kurt, desperately trying to keep her "Thosssss whiskey shots'll FUCK you up!" She giggled a bit and leaned on Kurt.

"Sheesh...Think I had like...3 mugs of beer at lease..." Kurt said looking at the girl. They both stared at each other with their glassy eyes, until Gaige spoke up.

"Soooooooo," She slurred "Wanna have some fun?" She said trailing her finger down his chest, which caused Kurt to blush profusely and look at the Mechromancer.

Kurt looked back at Gaige and said "Uhhhhhhhh, I really shouldn't..."

* * *

In a split second Gaige was pinned to the wall as Kurt passionately kissed her, not daring to take his lips off of her. How did they end up inside of the Crimson Raiders Headquarters? Well, a LOT can happen when you have a wee too much to drink and are near the girl you love dearly. Kurt began to trail his lips down her neck, while she yelped in excitement at this, and ran her hand through his hair. He had a firm grip on her thigh, which was covered with a stocking, torn from some sides. This was easily the best night of their lives, they are able to party hard, and get to spend time with each other, alone... Gaige trailed her hands down his body slowly moving them over his chest, going down, and down, and down, until she reached his belt, which she grabbed a hold of and proceeded to tug on it, until she was stopped by Kurt's hand.

"Uhhh, Gaige...I'm not sure if I should.." Kurt whispered hesitantly

"C'mon Kurt..." She pleaded "You know that I love you!"

"I know...but," Kurt replied "Do you think we should do something like this?"

"Yep." She replied sternly. Kurt looked around for a second, making sure nobody was in vicinity at this certain time.

"First time?" He asked looking at her

"Yeah..." She mumbled looking away

"It's gonna hurt." He explained looking at her

"I don't care, as long as it's with you." She explained kissing him again.

"...Alright," He said hoisting Gaige up so both of her legs were in his arms, "Don't say I didn't warn you.'

Kurt slowly moved his hand to his belt and unclasped the fitting on it, allowing the pants to slightly fall down, revealing his member to the mechromancer.

"Oh my god..." Gaige said in awe of the size.

"Yeah...And it's all for you.." Kurt said seductively as he ripped a hole in her stocking, where the two legs would meet up with the waist. Gaige didn't care, she was so excited about this to do anything but wait in anxiety for it.

Gaige felt it slowly enter inside of her. She never felt a pain like this before, it was a mixture of hurt and pleasure taped up in one package. Kurt began to slowly thrust in a rhythmic pattern, making sure Gaige wouldn't be hurt by his member, after all, she wanted to enjoy this moment, not regret it due to the pain it caused. They were enveloped into another kiss as Kurt tried to silence the shrieking Gaige was giving off during this whole shindig. She's never felt so in love in her entire life, she's finally found somebody that cared for her and actually could relate with. Sure there were those high school crushes and the "OMG Bobby is SOOOO CUTE" text's she would send her BFF's, but this was different, this was Kurtis Thatcher, a man she didn't like, she loved him. The climax was coming, she could feel it in her bones. She was grasping his neck as well as his back tighter and tighter, until finally it happened. She shrieked his name in pleasure as Kurt pulled it out and orgasmed on her body, shooting the white liquid on her body, making sure he didn't get any in her organ. They just weren't ready for something like that, they needed more time. As the panted and panted in sweat and pleasure, Kurt carried Gaige to her bed and slowly put her down. He put his pants back on and layed down on the bed with her.

"Holy fuck..." Gaige said staring at Kurt."That was amazing..."

"Yeah...it was.." Kurt said still breathing heavily from the excitement.

"Soooooooo.." Gaige said twirling her hair

"What?" Kurt asked letting out a small chuckle

"Do you love me?" Gaige asked, which caused Kurt to smile.

"Fuck yeah.." He whispered as he pulled her in for another kiss.

* * *

"Sheesh..." Axton mused hearing from outside the door, "Can't say 'Get a room' now can I?"

"Nope," Maya replied, holding Axton close to her body. Axton and Maya walked through the streets of Sanctuary to see all of the drunk people stumble around the city, celebrating their victory over Hyperion. It was truly a celebration of the night. Nearly every citizen of sanctuary was shitfaced drunk, even Sir Hammerlock, who was constantly rambling about something called a 'Bonerfart'. Axton and Maya continued to walk through the streets until they came across the edge of the town. They were just looking up at the stars, which were glistening every so brightly with their mysterious twinkles and such.

"All in a day's work huh?" Axton said holding Maya in his arms,

"Quite.." She replied looking at the stars.

"The monk's used to tell me that the stars represented each of the Order's power. They told me that the stars were all fallen brothers who died for the cause." Maya explained looking at the glistening lights, she paused for a minute,

"What a load of bullshit." She finished, which caused Axton to laugh out loud.

"And that's why I love ya!" Axton said laughing from the comment Maya made.

Axton continued to look onto the stars, until he heard a beeping come from the back side of him. He scrunched his nose in confusion and reached for his backside and noticed the light he installed himself was going off on his ECHO device. It was the strangest thing he's ever seen, the only person who could activate the beacon was...

Maya. Axton looked over to see the Siren he held in his arms was holding out the ECHO, pressing the button that Axton installed. Axton let out a smirk as well as a small chuckle at the sight of this.

"I need you..." She said putting away the ECHO.

"So do I..." He replied pulling her in for a passionate kiss under the stars.

* * *

**7 YEARS LATER**

Axton was walking through a rather nice house, hearing a slight sizzling from the kitchen. He tiptoed through the house until he heard the sizzle getting gradually louder. He tried not to make too much noise as he was walking around to try and find the source of the sizzling. As he made it to the kitchen, he laid eyes upon a woman with blue hair, wearing his t-shirt and a pair of light-blue panties. He simply couldn't take eyes off the woman who was cooking breakfast for him.

'_Bacon...' _Axton thought to himself while smiling. His eyes began to slowly trail downwards as he heard the woman speak up,

"So how long have you been staring at my ass, Axton?" Maya asked not shifting her attention towards the commando. Axton let out a small laugh,

"How'd ya know?" He asked looking at her

"Shadow gives you away, and I thought you were military trained for this kind of stuff? Sloppy Axton, sloppy indeed..." Maya said looking back at him, using her spatula as a finger, moving it in a scolding fashion, while smiling at him.

"Almost as sloppy as you bacon cooking skills?" Axton replied smiling back at her

"Oh, shut up," Maya scoffed "Stupid little things won't cook properly..."

Axton then walked up to Maya, and wrapped his arms around her, softly grasping her hands while smelling her scent she gave off on her neck. She was a little surprised at first, letting off a little gasp, but settled down after figuring out Axton's body was touching hers. She found pleasure in this, as she rested her head on his neck.

"It's like this..." Axton whispered in her ear moving her hands shifting the slabs of meat around on the pan. He began to move in a rhythmic pattern, almost as it was a waltz. He moved a hand through her hair, stroking it while smelling it. He kissed her neck that sent shivers through her spine. Maya then turned off the stove that was cooking the bacon, she spun around and pulled Axton in for a passionate kiss.

**KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK**

"What the fuck?" Axton said pulling away from the kiss. He stormed towards the door, grabbing a Thatcher arms shotgun that was given to him.

"Maya, take the kid, and hide." Axton ordered pointing to the door that led into the bedroom. Maya nodded and walked into the room behind her, leaving Axton to deal with the intruder.

Axton walked up to the door, he let out a breath and opened the door pointing the shotgun at the person at the door.

"Alright Motherfucker! You picked a wrong day to...Kurt?" Axton asked looking at the man at the door, with his hands up.

"See you haven't lost your touch Ax.." Kurt mused looking at his friend pointing a shotgun at his face. Kurt was wearing a button-down shirt, with glasses that were hung over the neckline. He was wearing a pair of tan trousers. Axton could see the 'Thatcher inc.' Logo that was pinned on to his shirt.

"Jesus Kurt! You nearly gave me a fucking heart attack!" Axton laughed pulling in his friend in a slight embrace "So to what honor was bestowed upon me to have the owner of Thatcher Industries come to my door?"

"Just to say hi that's all.." Kurt explained scratching his head, "Where the fuck you've been for 5 years?"

"Living my life.." Axton smiled looking back into his rather nice home.

"Axton! Who was at the...Kurt!" Maya said in excitement as she saw who was at the door. Thankfully Maya put on a pair of pants so she could greet the person standing there.

"Hey Maya! Good to see you again!" He said hugging the Siren, the pulling away.

"Oh, not often we have the richest man in the galaxy at our doorstep!" Maya mused looking at Kurt.

"5th Richest," He interjected holding out his hand to show his five prosthetic fingers, "As well as the youngest Trillionaire!"

"Not bad...Not bad at all.." Axton said looking at his friend. He then shifted his attention slowly downwards, then his face turned grim when he looked at his legs.

"How's the knee?" Axton asked looking back at him, Kurt let out a sigh and dropped his smirk.

"Hurts..." Kurt explained moving it slightly "But it could be worse..."

"Is that what you said about your arms too?" Axton asked letting off a smirk

"Glass half full, Axton" Kurt replied moving his finger around in a scolding sense.

"How's the finger?" Kurt asked pointing to Axton hand. Axton lifted it up to show Kurt the robotic ring-finger that was surgically implanted with a cybernetic limb. Kurt took note of the ring that was on the only flesh part of the finger, which was little to none at all.

"It works...That's all that matters..." Axton said moving the prosthetic around, then dropping his hand down.

"So how's Gaige?" Maya piped in trying to lighten up the mood, which Kurt was glad to do so.

"She's doing awesome! Just graduated college with a Summa Cum Laude. She's very excited about it!" Kurt explained rubbing the back of his head.

"Wow! Wish I could see her..." Maya said looking down a bit, which caused Kurt to chuckle a bit.

"Well..." Kurt slurred, cueing Gaige to walk from beside Kurt into Maya's view. Gaige wasn't wearing her punk attire, but a pair of jeans as well as a red shirt with some band name printed on it. She wasn't wearing her goggles, and her hair was done in one ponytail this time around, although it still had that same disheveled look to it.

"Hi Maya!" Gaige said looking at the Siren, Maya let out a little squeal and hugged the girl tightly,

"Gaige! It's so great to see you! Congratulations on the award!" Maya said pulling away from the embrace.

"Thank you!" Gaige piped, excited that somebody commended her for the award.

"Well, well," Axton said pulling Gaige in for a bear hug, glad to see her again, "Nice of you to drop by Gaige!"

"Ya kiddin'? I wouldn't miss seeing you guys for anything!" Gaige explained walking back from the bear hug she was given. Just as she pulled away, she heard a little voice say from inside the house, as well as footsteps.

"Daddy!" The kid said as he ran up to his father's arms, prompting Axton to scoop up the kid in his arms.

"Hey buddy! You come to say hi to our friends?" Axton asked looking at his kid.

"Goodness, you've been busy..." Kurt mused looking at the kid.

"Kurt. This is Isaac." Axton said showing his child to Axton.

"Well," Kurt said looking at Axton's son "Hello there! You gonna be big and tough like your Daddy one day aren't ya?"

"Yeah!" Isaac said in excitement, which caused Kurt to chuckle a bit.

"He's soooo cute!" Gaige said as her heart melted at the sight of their child.

"Well.." Kurt said scratching his head once more "I better get going, gotta business to run and such..."

"Of course! Gotta take this little guy to school anyways.." Axton said looking at his son.

"Oh, by the way...how are you guys doing on money?" Kurt asked looking at him while pulling out a checkbook. Axton and Maya exchanged glances, before Axton finally spoke up.

"Uhhh, I think we're still doing good on the 5 Billion you gave us.." Axton admitted nodding a bit, along with Maya.

Kurt allowed a smile to come across his face as he looked upon the happy family that was standing next in front of him. They didn't need money to make themselves happy, they had each other to thank for, and that's worth more than all the money in the universe. He moved his hand outwards, the in the hand-shaking fashion. Isaac reached over and shook Kurt's hand gently, which he made sure he would squeeze too hard.

"Well...Nice seeing you again..." Kurt said pulling his hand away "Hit me up, I wanna buy you a beer Ax.."

"Of course...See you around I guess.." Axton replied calmly looking at the young couple before him.

The two turned around and walked up the sidewalk that led to Axton and Maya's house. As the two walked away, Gaige turned her attention to Kurt.

"They had a kid..." Gaige pouted, which caused Kurt to widen his eyes in disbelief as they walked away.

Axton and Maya looked at the two walk away to live out their lives with each other. They were happy together, and it showed completely. Maya let out a sigh and said to Axton,

"They are so goddamn cute together.." Maya said looking at the two walk away in the sunrise.

"Yup...C'mon Isaac, get ready for school." Axton said to his son, as he let him down on the floor, and let him run into his room.

"Are you taking him today?" Maya asked looking at her husband

"Yeah..." Axton answered walking into the house.

"Good it'll give me time to prep.." Maya explained walking into their bedroom.

"For what?" Axton asked looking at his wife as she walked into their room, she spun around and smiled at him.

"You'll see..." She said seductively as she slowly crept back into the room, closing the door. Axton let out a little groan of excitement as he figured out the rest in his mind. He was well off, had a nice house, had a hot wife, and a beautiful child, what more could a guy ask for?

Axton turned his attention to mask that belonged to Handsome Jack himself which was framed on his wall. While he's learned to forgive himself for his own past, it can't harm him to keep several mementos of them. He walked up to the mask on the wall and stared at it for a few seconds. He let out a smile and said looking at the mask,

"Well John...How you like me now?"

**THE END**

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**AN : A bi bibibibibi THAT'S ALL, FOLKS!  
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**Seriously...Like...wow...I can't even start...but...THANK EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU! I couldn't have done it without you guys! I'll have to admit, typing in 'THE END' on my story brought a tear to my eye (no it didn't)... I'll have to thank a lot of the people who reviewed me and gave me important pieces of advice!  
**

**Shikaku Zetsumei: I don't know if she reads this fanfic anymore, but she helped me make my first chapter not look like a total piece of crap! It used to be just solid paragraphs! Super fun to read right?! She helped me put the bedrock of my story in place, and for that, I thank her sincerely!  
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**RatedRSuperstar87: Even though most of your reviews mainly included the phrase "Thanks for the update. update when you can" You helped me strive to keep on posting new chapters and such! Think of it as a going drive...THANKS!  
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**Starfighter-105: Same basis as SuperStar! You guys helped motivate me to keep on producing chapters! Thank you guys!  
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**Drake Williams: Ah, who could forget the friendly neighborhood party pooper!? Your subtle and dry humor helped me get a chuckle after reading the reviews you posted on my page! Thanks for giving me the little laugh! You rock dude!  
**

**Avangantamos: You rock dude! You've given me solid feedback, as well as ideas that get seeded off into bigger projects! Thanks for the awesome reviews! Hopefully procrastination won't bite you in the ass, because all fanart is accepted!  
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**CJ T-Bone: You also rock dude! Thanks for reading my fic and reading my review replies! Sorry for being and asshole!  
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**Guest (You know who you are): THANK YOU for the awesome feedback as well as criticism for my fic! You seem to instantly know when each of my chapters pop up, which means you read this fic a lot! I'm glad i got to make so many friends and fans of this story over such a short period! You deserve a pat on the back! And I hope to see your art soon! Can't wait to see it!  
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**Isaac Clarke AKA Reven: Who else would leave paragraph long suggestions as well as feedback from the current chapter they watched! This guy right here! What couldn't be said about this awesome dud that all of you already know from his reviews he post? I mean, He has a very insightful mind and helped my chart a successful course in my fic! FULL SAIL MATEYS!  
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**PurpleNinjaCat278: Who knew we would have become such good friends in a short time right? It all started out with you dropping a read at my fanfiction, then letting it branch off about Spiders and such! Thanks for the feedback you put on my fanfiction and for all the support throughout my time writing this whole thing! Like I said in my other reviews, It's been a hell of a ride, and I'm glad you're onboard! Hey guys! if you haven't already, you all should check out her Fanfictions on her page too! If you enjoyed my fanfiction, then you'll probably like her's better! DO AS I COMMAND YOU.  
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**Alright! I'd like to point out that I have a poll on my page, vote on my page if you want to see a sequel to this fanfiction! I hope you choose wisely, as it may be a tricky one for you... Happy new year to all!****  
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**See ya when I see ya,  
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**-LT  
**


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